There Once Was A Woman Made of Glass (2022)
There was once a woman made of glass.
Each transparent fragment stitched together.
Crystalline, double-glazed, stained,
But mostly the standard stuff
Seen on windows and bus shelters.
Cheap glasses,
Candles, computer screens,
Cigarette dishes,
Light bulbs and snow globes
And those funny little figurines
You see at grandma’s house.
When the woman walked in the sun,
The sunlight would reflect
And shimmer off her skin.
Bouncing with the movement
Of her translucent limbs.
A faint chime of song
Sifting through in colour spectrums
That washed over her like
Waterfalls and springs.
When the sky no longer enriched
With baby blues, or abundant
With candy-floss clouds,
Was heavy with sheep’s wool.
Dirtied by soil and mud,
Raindrops would fall
And scatter across her body.
Patter, pitter, patter.
Collecting like constellations,
Trickling over her crystal-clear frame
As fragile beads strung together.
People far and wide
Would gather to see
The woman made of glass.
Wonder taking the space
Of their eyes with glutenous intent.
Children peering through her flesh
And passing a smile, or a wave,
To their friend who laughed
On the other side.
The woman would
Grin and bear it,
Her smile restrained and
Inauthentic.
Sombre with staleness.
Disdain for the familiarity
Of commodity.
Her nails digging into
The cracking surface
Of her palms.
Faint splinters appearing
Like washed-out veins
Over her hands and fingers.
Day by day, the same charade.
More and more a centrepiece
To folks near and wide.
As the months tired and
Grew weary of monotony,
The sickly whites of watchers’ eyes
Bulged with red worms and maggots.
The woman craved so much for skin
That would rot and fester
Under the earth.
But feared her crystal skin would
Last forever;
Splinters on the earth like
Common grass blades.
Or worse - hung as a chandelier
In some cavalier mansion,
With gorging white walls
By her side and
Tacky marble flooring
Under her feet.
High class poodles
(With high hats and pearls
Choking their elastic necks)
Cackling like hyenas,
Shaking her glass frame
With fatal merit.
The thought made her brittle with fear.
Three monotonous weeks later
A boy of about ten
And a weary mother,
walked by chalky cliffs
On sands as soft as sunshine.
In the dancing sunlight,
Something rounded and shiny
Glimmered in between the grains.
The boy of about ten
Approached the object
And dug his hands into the gold,
Clamping his fingers around
A small, glass head.
As he pulled it from its rest,
His curious green eyes
Met the cold, dead stare
Of the head without a body
And he smiled:
“Mother, can I take this home?”.
A faint nod gave his answer,
And the boy of about ten
Skipped in glee over a
Thousand translucent shards,
Scattered, that he did not see.
Devil's Breath (2022)
It is a sombre morning.
Frost kisses each windowpane
And leaves lipstick stains
Or ice and snow on the touches
Of blueing skin.
A mist of rain and wind
Sprays against spindles of branches
That have malted their leaves.
The ground is opaque with death.
Veins in the earth frozen over,
Splinter through ashy grains.
Stalks are brittle and decaying
And lay like bodies in a morgue.
The caw of black-hooded birds
Echo through dribs and drabs
Of the sky, sheathed in a grey shroud
And speckled with splinters of the night.
Eyes, pools of orange and yellow,
Reflect the whites of lampposts
That choke the empty pavements
With their creeping fingers.
In the deep horizon a town abodes.
Houses lined up shoulder to shoulder,
Slender and stout.
Shades of peat and pestilence,
Thickened with climbing vines
And burrowed in bushes
Adorned with thorns and spiderwebs.
Flames dance away in wooden breasts
And trickle out of scorched cavities
That protrude from slated scalps.
Beyond the thicket, a cliff
Cloaked in devil’s breath
Watched over a mountainous castle.
The intimidating skeleton
Is cast in iron and brick.
Mortar seeps out like bile
And oil spills that seek to
Swallow the sea.
The cracks along its flesh
Deeper in depth
Then the very pits of hell.
Towers pierce the heavens,
Embellished with open snarls
And gnashing teeth that guard
The fortress from forces
That seek to destroy it.
Glass eyes coated in ash and dust
Hold in secrecy
the recluse and deranged.
Shifting in shadows;
Dancing in dusk;
Basking in the bowels
Of their ecstatic lunacy.
Reminiscence of echoes past
Sound through vacant hallways,
Spit out passing life
With bitter tendency.
Hollow frames hold nothing
But the faded red of lost souls.
Eye sockets like caverns.
Insects scratch at the bone.
That ghoulish nature
A faint touch from flushed cheeks.
The castle is silent
Aside from jaded breaths
Of breeze that whistle through
Doorways.
Blow over velvet drapes,
Tattered; frayed; marked
With bullet holes of decomposition
Below the torn threads,
A graveyard of moths.
Upon a long table
Leers a single candle.
It drips with antiquated wax.
The faded flush of smoke
Drifts from a crumbled wick.
A feast lines the dusted cloth.
Pus protrudes from fouled meats,
baring bone. Moulded breads.
A flurry of flies’ drinks the
Putrefying sap.
Their bellies full
Of everything but life.
Slowly (2018)
If self-deprivation was a hobby,
she would be an artist
and the paint strokes
would be her tears.
Waterworks, watercolours
make the painting complete
and viewers, near and far
appreciating sombre,
as if they were approaching
fear.
(But without the cataclysms of broken
nights and melancholy laughter,
only spectators to madness).
If self-harm was a game
she would be a player
in the gambling fields of Las Vegas.
Rolling, throwing and spinning dice
with the Devil on her shoulder.
And the angel,
having lost its morals,
takes the back-seat, grinning from ear-to-ear.
Basking in the formality of exchange between
deep-set whispers cemented in her mind.
And yet, most peculiar, the shadow
who lies fondly behind her
sits up, walks and perches over.
Then, a sharp cut creates a fondness
for the girl who glances after.
But the pain is as sweet
as a cyanide-kiss.
As warm as hands around your neck;
impressions of fingertips.
As delicate as death is to a dying bird
whose neck is broken.
Sorrow no further apart
than sea is to sand.
Slowly breaking, day-by-day;
and as the sun dies
it is born again into a solemn world
with rain, and thunder, and hail
and an unbreakable darkness
with light shining only dimly,
cascading deep shadows and shapes
and reflections.
​
But if self-love was a person
it'd be a stranger.
Passed in the street, in the park,
on the cross-bridge between
road and water.
In a face of an old woman,
who weary and tired,
drapes her hands heavy by her side,
thick with the handles of plastic bags
filled with food; food for one, only one.
In a man, whose hoodie
shielded you from the sight of his sadness,
and blinded you to avoid him,
fearful of the stereotypes
that you made mockery of.
But the only friend you know is
in the mirror, the shattered splinters;
the icy glare; the warped reflection.
The fear in your lungs, coating your breath
with thick blood and water.
The wild-kiss of loneliness stiff in your joints,
frost in your muscles, winter in your bones
and you lay stuck on that bed, never to move,
only to drown-alone.
With only your scarred hand to hold.
And the Devil on your shoulder.
Sleeping With Noise (2018)
When sleep comes it comes with promises;
fulfilment for a mind tired,
broken
and too alive.
Sleep tight dear heart.
Awake with morning,
rise with the sun.
Yet,
all I do is sleep.
Tired mind, no rest for the weak.
But all I do is sleep.
Moments change when my head upon my pillow,
rested, falls asleep.
My mind alive with pictures, falling deeper.
Consciousness forgotten.
Dreaming-
Dreaming.
Wait, am I dreaming or dying?
My body filled with nightmares,
sweating,
paralysed,
eyes open,
dark shadows,
panicking.
Falling again. No rest for the wicked.
I do not wake. I am never awake.
What is living?
If I cannot escape to the moving pictures,
I am not living.
So I choose to sleep, where the worlds are only mine.
Better than life.
Filled with better people,
better feelings,
better thoughts.
But still filled with noise.
A Call for Light (2018)
The cold, harsh winter.
The piercing touch of rain
but the glimmer of the sunshine
escaping through the window pane
barely touches me.
Hardly there at all,
but there all the same:
Invisibility
not a mask, nor a superpower
nor a way to escape the dreaded sting of time,
staring eyes, staring right through me.
Anonymity cannot save me from the daytime,
cannot spare me in the night
where the moonlight never reaches me.
Translucency cannot keep me in the picture,
not even in the dark-wood of the frame
or the nail, struck hard, grasping the wall.
I cannot even be the dents in the plaster
where paintings, defeated in battle, give way
and fall, crash onto the floor.
Not even the glass splinters, that scattered
dare to slash, gash, cut and prick.
Invisibility does not allow my scars to remain
on those that endeavour to pick me up.
Does not allow me to make my mark,
scratch out my name onto their skin;
their hands; their hearts.
It is not my virtue, not my weight
nor my choice, but certainly my fate;
it is my mockery and my oppressor,
yet it thrives in my blood,
occupies my face, breathes my lungs,
Beats in vain for it is my name.
I beg you light
unwrap my crystalline.
Thaw my transparency.
Burn my cellophane;
bless me bright, aglow, even hazy.
Gift me luminosity, brilliance, cloudiness,
radiance-but I fear-do not turn me into shade.
Paper Bird (2017)
​
It's like you're broken glass
and the shards, they last.
You're going to die one day,
might as well make it fast.
Just reach for the knife,
turn off the light,
and take one breath
as you take your life.
No point in living
another day.
Might as well stay away
from the happy memories
that flood your way.
Come on, bring it on
you just don't belong.
You better end it now
before they steal your song.
Little songbird cry,
let's hear your sound.
Better sing real high
before they knock you down.
Oh too late, you're like a
paperweight
holding everything
so you don't fly away.
Oh wait, you're underground.
Push the soil out.
But it's in your lungs.
Don't breathe-don't breathe.
Stuck.
Like a magnet to the earth
except you don't work
with the physics of existing. Oh,
you better runaway
before they steal you away.
Oh too late, your body's hurt.
Now, little songbird
make your music. But they turn it off.
Oh too late, they've already broken your record.
Smashed in, like you're paper thin
crumbled paper, in the bin
set alight, burn you up.
Open up, you're fire dust
in the ground, my little paper bird
you're soil now, can't grow back.
Submerged (2016)
I know where you’ve been,
Know where you’ve been hiding.
Somewhere beneath the stars.
Catching your breath at last
And you know that everyone
Has been lost somewhere down the road before.
And you only seem to see the sun
Reflected above the water’s floor.
Then it’s all gone.
Sundown has come
And you’re resting your head on the hard ground
Thinking about times so far now,
Wondering why oceans lie
Their waves upon the shore, crashing down.
Heavens nowhere to be seen
And you’re walking down the road that leads
To nothing.
Come clean, you’re alone again.
Slipping beneath the stars
Only one more breath to last
Come clean, you’re lost it seems.
‘But don’t give up now’ you say;
The road to nowhere
Leads to something,
The road to somewhere
Comes from nothing
And your footsteps won’t be forgotten.
Come clean, your feet are moving.
First step, the birds are talking.
Next step, the sky is calling.
Third step, you’re nearly there now.
Fourth step, the waves are crashing down.
Last step and you’re above the clouds
Alone, beyond waters green.
Dead Funny (2016)
You killed me in so many ways.
Stood by my grave and laughed,
just laughed.
And they passed false tears down their face,
tore the white flowers from their vase while
you pretended to be sickened by this grief.
This death of such sweet innocence,
that they forgot in life,
oh how you danced around my coffin and laughed.
Just laughed.
Fed the mourners with your forged pity,
while the white bells rung in their heads;
oh the sound of death,
how sweet it must sound to you.
Sickly sweet, but how you forgot.
A ghost can haunt, and that I'll do.
So just remember, before you laugh at me.
Just laugh.
The dead can laugh too.
Closer than Strangers (2016)
In the window, the passers by
Look ahead to avert their glance,
Away the whispers become a sound,
a sound no more bearable than a heavy hand.
Through the plain and painted glass
The strangers pretend the dark is light,
And shine their lamps in the burning sun
While you tremble in the forgotten shade.
Mirrored through the transparent pane
You scream, shout, wail and cry
But the strangers, unaware begin to dance,
So you weep, louder and louder again.
But still the strangers don't hear your echoes,
Their feet still embracing the cobbled ground
So in doubt, you begin to copy their feet
Then the strangers turn and behind the window,
There your friends wave and smile.