She thinks of him every day of her life
pierces her soul like a sharp knife
the baby she had to abandon
her first born, her precious son

To young to handle responsibility
told this by peers repeatedly
gave in to pressure
heartbroken beyond measure

no day goes by
she doesn't cry
you'll often hear her sigh
memories drift by

She's afraid to look for him
in case only fulfilling her whim
he may not want to know
her forgotten long ago

EMPTY CRADLE
[Robert Longo-Geremia :
May 15, 1940-May 15, 1940]

I’ve come too far
I can’t go back
the world doesn’t know me
anymore
but I am here
and must see it through
living not for one
but two

one child dies
another fills an empty womb
so here I am
and I have to see it through

One soul into another
you are my other self
you are my brother....

the hollow ache
delicate and free
floats like crystal
through the dark
alive to see

the loves perfection
succulent and known

Until the battle recedes
no more
and the earth has tilted
beyond its axis,
when the wind
gusts to appall
as in ancient
history,
forgotten

I shall remember,

As a muniment
of minutes
broke,
the sheath of silk
covering my id,
unveiled the majesty
and wonder,
ambrosia
energy flowing
in neon tubes

Revealed
in the pain
and suffering
an atom of joy,

You

Or was it Twenty Two…

Twenty one minutes on the underground,
and I’ve travelled ten thousand mile.
I don’t expect that you’ll believe my stories,
but I’m sure they always makes you smile.

What difference does it make if I believe them,
they’ll always be my tales maybe even dreams.
In a world where dishonourable deceit is rife,
remember nothing is what it always seems.

In desolate dark
churchyards
lichen laden
headstones
mark your place

Could find you on
a map of orderly
death rows
plotted and paid for
with your Co-op
plan

Very good at organising
your final resting
weren't you?

Pity you didn't
work out the cost
to the family's
funeral debt

Every time I walk
the dog
he repays the
interest in piss

The skeletal
limbs of laylandii
grab down as if
to pitch us down
to join you

Nights spent working
lost in thoughts
Distraught and lonely.

Never any ambitions
Longing for you
Hiding all emotion.

Forgotten by friends
Invisible wounds bleed
Drowning by isolation.

Congestion of heart
Distinction of solitude
Tears flowing downward.

INVERSNAID (GREAT POETRY WORKSHOP)

Gerard manley Hopkins

 
THIS darksome burn, horseback brown,

His rollrock highroad roaring down,

In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam

Flutes and low to the lake falls home.

 
A windpuff-bonnet of fáwn-fróth
        
Turns and twindles over the broth

Of a pool so pitchblack, féll-frówning,

It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.

 
Degged with dew, dappled with dew

the worlds a fast moving away
towards eternity ….
moms and pops
play hide and seek equally
in the far folds of the universe
one has yet to traverse

an outstanding poet like you
as I stand out too

but you are exquisite
what am I
you alone can say
a legend will I become like you one day,
someday
only heavens can portray
let me not my wisdom betray
as I stand out in the garden all alone
Seeing the clouds go bye
in search of the ones since gone

man…
a ticket to space for me

my love has dried up
like bags of old tea
stale and tasteless
it offends the senses

I sit within circles of glass
knowing it all will shatter
because the time has come
to close the windows on our love

once your touch excited my mind
once we lived on the edge of reason
and now we dodge each other
ignoring the truth as it bites

I try to reignite the flames
I feed the fire with love
but it refuses to catch
I am extinguished