SHOOTING STARS

And I smile
when the shrink says ‘smile!’
pulling apart my joyless lips
from ear to ear
with both my hands
and the waning life they have
sitting propped like a straggly rag doll
– with a head full of memories,
maddening crazy silver laughter
and love from the past –
wearing a dress
the colour of shooting stars…

ESTRANGEMENT

I see you stand
near the road to dawn
your cigarette smoke ploughs
a white path through
midnight ink in the air

chasing my ghost
every night since then

to chase and search
the remains of me

drinking
sour agony
dribbling down my navel
sour agony
coursing through my river
of turbid time

ashen grey years tangled
my brittle hair
my brittle life

the strains of my songs
live to echo in mossy wells now

my sun
a swelling mass of
dull pink estrangement
sits lumped up in the gut

and the love you left me lies
chapped on my aging lips

there’s no dawn
in my country
return to yours
your own realm
our nest that was

THE LAST WORD

Time’s running out
so is the blood pirouetting in my veins
few moments
and it’ll splutter
burst forth into dark flowers
of unimaginable hysteria
out into the air
acrid with unrest

Love
the last word
sits on my lips
trembling like a weak leaf
life
brittle
breaks me
every pore
the city’s breathing pits under our feet
And we stand
You and I
the sweet wait
stretching between us
the unpromised joys
slithering away
on the sly
into dust