Braveheart

Beating heart
beneath the soil
buried in a bag of bones

Memory of Dust and Snow, (Breyten Breytenbach)

 Equal desertion,
equal desolation
here I am
here I am
the darkness of the bright light
the desert storm
the snow storm
it makes the same dreams
should I shiver with cold and
forget
that I shake with sweat
every time


In the end
they are the same dream
the same
hoping,I could have changed
and become
something
 in between
where the light is calm
in the trees
medium tide.

pieces

telescope
proof
something
missing
mistaken
stepped over
help
like a pea caught in the blockage
swallowed whole
blocking the light

Childhood Files 2

This can't be mine
the endless row of television bear shows
the two plastic pianos, feeling like an ice storm,
far away from this, further
it's mine
bursting loud tunes, twinkle little star
digging like a miners in the garden
black stone flowers
it feels like these two
were here first


Everything before was a pregnant breath
waiting for the real life
the goodnight moon
 doubles, twinkle little star
more unlikely than a garden on a straw hat
the garden grew into a whole island of green
big enough to live on
likely it shouldn't have happened,
but unlike anything
unlike anything before

Haunted House

Avoid eye contact
don't go let them scare you
don't let them get into your mind
a haunted herd, a dark package
you won't turn back,



Take my advice
don't look too long at those walls
don't follow the Hundred Acre Wood maps
they are traps,

Be careful
when the broken hearted Tin Man talks to you
you will be crawling
turn around
don't make a sound
turn around
or no more
you won't
 be found

Mutations

In the dark
when the moon never rose
they never noticed
they never saw
this little person didn't shiver
didn't laugh
didn't look up at the shower of stars


In the day
 this child, caught out
with the wrong eye match
the displaced colouring


walking away

In the end
there was a place
 where something connected
they never noticed that kind of life
that kind of life
a cave where the sun stalked orange
when mountains of snow stayed forever
where the strange child
made them strangers.

The Trouble With...

The trouble with her
short hair
when the balance of mummies have long hair

Sometimes she cries
sometimes she needs to be alone
but she tells us that anything is okay
putting stars in our eyes
she dances
because she
works and cooks and never bends
we know she is always just mummy

The trouble with him
away
he doesn't ever take us to school
he goes to work on the computer for a long time'
he doesn't stay

Sometimes he is tired
sometimes he doesn't listen
but he is always the end of the day
he lets us help fix things
he dries our hair
he never stops trying
he shares his eggs with us
we know he is always just daddy

The trouble with her
small
she doesn't put the lids back on our pens
she makes too many mistakes
she screams so loudly at the shops
she takes

 Sometimes she smacks
sometimes she doesn't hug back
but she is always the best friend
she plays with me all day long
she and I watch the same movies
she holds my hand
sometimes
she calls me when I am not there
she follows every move
I know she is always just Natty

The trouble with her
bossy
she takes over everything, little queen
she chooses clothes and movies
she tells me no no
she talks too loudly in my ear
she's always here

Sometimes she stands in front again
sometimes she doesn't hug back
but she never stops talking about me
she gets nervous,
Then she lets me have first choice
she wants to helps so much
she gives me the pink cup
she tried to show me, show me, little princess
she follows every move
I know she is always just Ashlee

Why, What When

Like a trail of thoughts behind me
the two of you
persist again
why can't we fly?
when can we have the pink sweeties?
what makes the sea grey today?
why do clouds move
okay, what makes dogs talk in way we don't?
listen...when will we be twenty?

Why is she brown?
tell us, what is love?
how do you escape getting caught
between the what if I don't know
and how.

Stocking Basket

It's just a feeling
but it may not be stockings there
there may be the beginning of a bedtime story
the thread spins out more that fixed shred and rip
the needle's eye is the heart of a tale told
by a stocking darning nation.

The Little Princess

She lives in a little house
with one plant to water
and one hug to give
she laughs like a glass bell
she has one heart
one safety net
and a hundred stories to tell.

Day of the Dead

How many moments are recorded,
 weighted,
documented
decided
where are the places where we die?
sicken plagued by drought, war torn, uncounted
by a funeral per weekend,
noted as one of a hundred
by a universal bandstand
by a gentle wind and a final baby crying, starved
small, again, tribute one by one



Some places have a long mourning
some have a long buried byway
walked roads of burial
where will it end
a child
a father
a screaming mother?
will it ever
ever
be noticeably enough?

Book of Fears

Hush
Don't say
Whisper in my ear
Are you scared of being small?
Spiders?
Are you afraid of getting lost in your own room?
Are you afraid for me?
Are
You
Scared of yourself?
For yourself?

Pirate Princesses

Watch the water below our feet
jump onto the ship
wear a cross bone crown on your head
we have never been past the yellow house really
but we have the power to swim far below
to catch a whale in our hands
and find gold with flash of a fancy wand

Ghost Town

They couldn't survive
or make a happy life
a skeleton crowd of houses remains
vacant, with spirits in sand
school in the sun
baker's house nailed
third house right of school, shell shocked
mine manager's house, apart, tall, vacant
this town is lightly forgotten.

Outlawed

Compass points digress, confounded
he is far to skilled in the profession to be caught
well taught
open fields turnaround the same
he knows every rift
a gift
a negotiable price
will never be enough.

Christmas Calling

Once there were two girls
who waited for Christmas
they called out every day
they made cotton wool snowballs
used mind over matter to bring in clouds
cold rain, evergreen trees
in a desert corner next to the ocean
where it was hard to imagine
jingle bells in the dusty sky.

Chorus

Even if you tore out the pages
Would you know that I  am singing?
Still singing with you
Still stuck on the repeat
Still imagining that you sit beside me

Still, quietly a tear
Still life in recorded corner
The tape is paused
I am still singing.

Two

Two sisters on the carpet
Spread a world of farms and houses
Across the room
Frost windows turn to fly buzzing barriers
The world stands still

Two sisters select rocks to put to bed
In wooden boxes
Mesmerized
First two, me and you
Now, two, my kids, it's true.