valedictory

I am wondering how to
Reach you
I am wondering how I
Poet
For want of a better
More meaningful
Word
May hold your attention

And then I wonder
Why
I should do so
And how to make
Myself
Deserving of it
And what I will
Do
When I have it

I can entertain
I can spin tales
Love, hate
Life

But how do I make
This
Mean anything more than
Time
Spent politely
Listening

To me

The beat changes

I walk this once familiar street
Follow the rhythm of my feet
As I feel the pulse, I feel the beat
Of the life that grows where people meet
But the beat changes

The beat changes
The beat may grow, or the beat may slow
But the beat changes

The beat changed between us
The beat of mine, the beat of yours
Asynchronous at the last
Each holding to the idea
The remnants of what once was
Reaching for the other holding them close
To feel the pulse
Hoping
But feeling the beat change

The beat changes
The beat may grow, or the beat may slow
But the beat changes

The beating I receive in the schoolyard has become passé
The regularity, the inevitability of life for the smart kid
Labelled a fag
In a semi rural town
The blows rain down as if upon another
Reaching my body but not my self
Not reaching me where my life pulses
Where my heart beats
Where the beat changes

The beat changes
The beat may grow, or the beat may slow
But the beat changes

The beat…
Change is inevitable
What was is not will be or even is
Intense this tense
Future present past
All part but never constant
Time an illusion measured by intellect
Felt as a fluidity
An hour can feel a lifetime
A lifetime at its end feel but a
Beat changing

The beat changes
The beat may grow, or the beat may slow
But the beat changes

The changing beat, the pulse of this once familiar street
To which I return after so long away
Has that slight discomfort of unfamiliarity
Of seeming lost in a world that once was home
Giving promise of future unpredicted
The excitement of getting to know a whole new world
All over again

think I've heard of it

From the air
The centre of Australia
Is all swirls
And ridges

Earthy tones
Brown, ochre
Black
But overall the heart
Is indeed
Red

Desolate and beautiful
Great swathes of only
Apparently
Barren wilderness
Open, natural
Harsh
And beyond our control

And yet man in his
Arrogance
Draws lines around
Sections
Of Nature’s whole
Divides it into
Pieces
Give names to the
Nameless reaches

Oft times they are named for
Those first brave or
Mad
Enough to face the
Wilderness
But more often as some
Honorarium
For one deemed
Worthy
Those who most likely
Had not set eye on a truly
Natural
Expanse of land

First Words from the Lines of a Love Poem

You
I

You
I

I
You
You
I

You
I
I
You

Yours
Mine
Your
My
I
You

We

Together
Apart
Being
With
Without

I
You
We
Why

Love

Only……

of a love poem

My visions
My nightmares
My life

All in print

Humanity's iniquities
The pains of growth
Rants on relationships
Gone bad
And alcohol fuelled revelry

Every low and
Angst ridden
Moment
Put down in words
Until my heart
Beats slow
And painfully

I tire
Lay my head down and
Dream

Of a love poem

From the lines

These stories are true
As such can be known
Life’s struggles
Humanity’s war on
Itself
The individual’s battle
With life

Love
Labour
Loss

No inconsequentialities
The reporting is
Detailed
And complete

Advance, retreat
Each victory each
Capitulation
But one more step to
Becoming

The stories
Many and
Varied
All coming to you live
Direct
From the lines

First Words

My pen at first
Hesitant
Random scratches of
Infant toenails
On floor upon which
It learns to crawl

Soon few
Faltering
Steps
Vocalisation of rough
Incoherencies

Then listen
Watch the grown ups
Mimic then
Practice

Stability of gait
Increases
Clear voice found
Pen steadies on page

Reveals

First words