Relevance

It’s the grinding I can’t stand – –
The constant tell that something’s wrong.
The aches and pains:
Irrelevant really.
No one else Feels them
Knows them
Believes them.

It’s a falsehood,
Apparently.

And when I dissent, the
Fault is Mine.
And when I acquiesce, the
Fault is Mine.

But it’s My flesh and bone
Screaming into deafened ears:
(It’s My Ache, My Pain)
Pleading for recognition.

Still, ignorance prevails,
And I am left
Trying to convince you
That the sky is blue,
After all.


June-July 2025

Blunt

I am (a Shadow)

Cigarette-thin paper
Torn
from an exquisite manuscript.

Faded.
Letters
from long forgotten scrolls
Immaculately inked.
Dark then, now greyed
On yellowed backdrops of once
Crystal white.

A corrupted nib –
Near blunt –
Near Extinct.

Near.

But not yet.

Not yet.

Existence

One score and nine years ago
(OK, that’s a tad dramatic, but…)

An entire existence –
as it was –
Obliterated
by ink on paper and
Blue-green hues evaporated
in the scent of tender wood, whisky and spice.

(And then again, before)

that existence –
as it was –
Fabricated
in snapshots of
Skewed perception and ransomed
in paper and words and broken promises.

(And now?)

Existing –
as it is –
Existing.

Written January 2024