Children across the planet exist in perpetual fear of sleep. There is a monster in the closet, under the bed and hidden beneath the pillows. But this monster has no horns. It has no long snout or blood soaked fangs. Its claws are metaphorical. Its lust for food, its hunger for satiation, is endless. Boundless. Feeding on their fears; rational and irrational.

When in the deepest slumber, between R...

It’s a cliché to wake up suddenly in a place that is unknown to you. So I won’t start like that. But I am in a bed. Just an ordinary creaky metal framed bed with other humans around me. Humans of course I do not know for reasons unbeknownst to me. So, some clichés do persist.

“Look, I didn’t ask to be picked. None of us did.”

A tween in green scrubs prodded and screeched at another tween, who wo...

On a ferris wheel, spinning opulent glee.

The people below a scattering sea,

while we scream and laugh and cry as three.

There sits a mother, a babe and I.

A day is a week and a year gone by.

They embrace one another; love in the sky.

A cough, a splutter but we’re okay.

Nothing will interrupt this incredible day

as we run and scream and laugh and pray

we wait for the smile to return so quick.

A...

The desert’s silence held ancient whispers,

Endless dunes contain darkest memories,

Trapped behind a veil of mist-bound sisters

A sand whipped escape of extremities.

Stone faced obelisks guarding cruel secrets,

A network of clandestine forgotten,

Feet fall oblivious and unfrequent,

Voices muted by sands misbegotten.

Fire remains on the backs of travellers,

Transporting spices to brighten feastin...

Where can they find a book of poetry that encapsulates this experience? Surely, there must be a tome, written in an archaic script, out there in the ether; that has been digested over and over again. Those poignant words lovingly nibbled and gnawed. Like a child pawing over myths and legends.

Yet, there is none.

They are but five minutes old; while their intelligence remains an intact ship on th...

Where are all the people who once loved me so?

I was a spirited man in my youth; spritely and full of vigour. The world was a tumbling oyster off the back of the universe that was my whale. Now, all gone. Things have tumbled to nothingness, all thanks to him. That damned juggernaut! Ploughing through my heart and bewitching the souls of everyone who looked through me to him.

Like an old tattere...

Fear: How in hell are we going to talk to her?

Relief: Oh, it’s okay she’s not seen us.

Humour: ha she never sees us!

Tragedy: Yeah H’s right, we‘re pathetic.

Humour: Maybe you are, me and Em are just misunderstood hehe.

Fear: No no we’re just easily spooked - especially at intense situations like this.

Tragedy: I agree! Remember all, there’s a lot riding on this moment. If she speaks to Em...

Messy papers unstacked against forgotten psychology books,

Dust magnets to a buried Id subconsciously subdued.

Brown flecked Bonsai tree that barely receives looks,

Coffee stained corner-stall with marker pen ne’er removed.

Wonderings adrift through the smog clod furnishings,

Oaky aromas still wafting amongst the eagle head bookends

Lovingly ensconced in velvet draped flourishings.

Dog-eared page...

Swollen memories now roll around in my skull. Dancing with beautiful blooded daggers on top of a pyramid of scorched cash. Oh it felt so nice to be on top; when we were Tom and Jerry. And I would bring a mallet down on your head and share in a laugh or two. I know you loved them just as much as me.

Remember that time when everyone had those stunning smiles stretched across their plastic faces. So...

Each to and fro

And back and forth

Propels me skyward true;

Through mottled yellow canopies,

Into the feather flaked sanctuaries.

The rope is blue-plastic-cankered,

And frayed

With concrete securely anchored,

To that spot behind the antique shed;

So far away from where I lay my head.

But my head would soon lay once more

Between the gravel and concrete floor.

Quick. Slip. And snap to fall.

One h...