In The Other Room

I thought for so long
                                that I'd dreamt you,
Created you out of shattering wishes,
                 crumbling hopes;
But I can see you now,
                          touch you even,
All it takes is a handful of steps
                                     into another room.
Not twenty feet away
                                  just in the other room.

Conversations with Characters II: June Granger

You're as frustrating as a wombat, dear June,

Feisty June,

June who always knows her way,

Won't let anyone else have a say.

You're funny when you rhyme things, lady writer,

Collected you,

You who sits writes what you believe true,

Don't let others tell you what to do.

You're hard to write, dear June,

Elegant June,

Stripper darling hating spring

Because of all the baggage it'll bring.

I'm glad I confound you, lady writer,

Prolific you,

Since I'm not what you normally see,

I'm not of your world nor would I be.

Conversations with Characters I: T.A

If only
You would right yourself
Strange darkness.
You reside in the face
I can picture,
I even know what your voice is made of:
Liquid, silken steel
Rising to a storm when you are angered
- and you are rarely truly angered - 
yet soft and still in the council hall,
Able to bring the entire chamber to silence.
I know you
And yet I can't,
Because you're not letting me realise you,
Darkest one,
With all your inner, concealed confusion,
About who you are and why you did as you have done.
Conflicted?
No, you're not,
You're too decided,
That's your flaw,
And when I throw your lot in with hers,
All fire and reckless charges,
You balk and stare back out at me from the screen,
as though to ask
"Did you want me to change her from who she is?"
I ought to reply that that's not the point,
but I know what you'd say:
"Let the Dar'nayl take care its own."

Outside our Windows

Here then

A new light for you

A new type of fire.

It's lit up the world outside our windows,

Focused on

Strange roots and bark and tree.

Beautifying

Terrifying.

World alight

Outside our windows.

Heartslaying

i remember when you kissed me in that kitchen
the warmth and taste of you


desire emptying into me
a pouring cliche
stomach heated with burning fireflies
and the silent whistling ache throughout my body


heart slaying.


i remember kissing you in that car
the warmth and taste of you


conquering armies surrounding me
reminding me
troy fell in ten years
you felled me in ten days
and the silent whistling mortality of longing


heart slaying.

Self Reflections

"These are not my stars,"  she said,
Looking up into the night,
"This is not my sky.
Why have you brought me here, my love,
Where the air is strange and the world frozen?
Where the birds come in only monochrome?
Why have you brought me here?"


"This is where you're from, my dear," I told her promptly,
"This is where your roots are,
This is where you were born,
I thought you'd be happy to see it again."


"It's not that I'm not happy here," she responded quietly,
"It's that here my blood runs cold and the woods are silent,
When I'm here I can't hear my heartbeat on the wind.
There's no fire in the bush,
No flood on the land."


"You could relearn it here, my love," I whispered,
"And learn to live here again like before."


"Of course I could," she replied,
And looked at me with a saddened smile,
"I can probably learn to live anywhere,
But when I'm there,
I'm alive and I belong somewhere."


"But emotions and attachments are ephemeral, love,
What you feel for him now might be ripped form you again."


"Life is too short to be afraid of the unknowable, my dear,
We've been afraid for so long.
Look up into this sky and tell me what you see."


I did then as she asked me,
Turning my face away from the mirror 
And looking up into the night,
"You're right," I whispered to myself,
"These are not my stars."

When I Get Lost

Child of too many worlds,
It's okay to be afraid:
Stranger things have happened to you,
                                   Remember?
Child without a single home,
It's alright to be lost,
Your feet don't have to remember
                        where to return to.
Child beneath wide skies,
You can tremble at the world,
But there is a place or person for you too
                      for you to belong.