of the earth

Paper powder

Crushed root and bark sterilised to an icy finish

Graphite makes its midnight mark

trinkets

The rain falls

Like a string of pearls sliced by lightning on the tin roof

Fingertips memorise the path over rubber-skinned stepping stones

They are numbered but I prefer the unchartered road

Another t-shirt is drenched in dew

 

You tell me you’re tired

Yet your eyes reflect the moon

The night won’t be young for long

I will lie down and gaze with you

(X)

Do you remember

The 24th letter of the alphabet you learnt when you were 3 (X)

The multiplication sign you learnt when you were 7 (×) (it also looked like an inverted addition sign [+] to you then)

The Roman numeral for 10 you learnt when you were 12 (X)

 

Do you remember

The blush that invaded your cheeks

The first time you saw cross-backed straps (x) peeping through a girl’s shirt

After that you were never the same

 

Do you remember

That 17 August (X) on your calendar that you forgot

xxx- redemptions that were once worth the world

But each kiss bleeding ink feels more wrong than the next

People don’t write letters anymore, do they?

You were at a crossroads (X) when you were 16

But you’ve moved on since then

 

Do you remember

The wrong target you hit spot-on (X)

The major mistake (X) your teachers foretold in red

You left it behind when you were 18

 

And she’s still here

Because she told you not to hang X’s on the skeleton of kites

They will float but never fly free

xxx=30: she learnt this when you were 12

And she’s still waiting because you promised 30

A mistake waiting to be rectified

A Love Letter To:

When we meet

It won’t be love at first sight- I know it

No sparks will fly

But a spark of curiosity will

Ignite like a dying flame desperately trying to rise again

Call it what you may

Call it hope

 

In your eyes

I will see oceans and skies

Your experiences will show me how they’ve

Flown and drowned

But in mine, so dark

I think you will see a lost soul

I don’t know

I will wonder what you see in mine

I will wonder what you see in me

 

We will get to know each other first

Maybe just a little

Because I could never love a stranger

I imagine awkward conversations in crowded coffee shops

Dates that we won’t call dates

I will hope that you genuinely like coffee

Not just pretending for me

 

When we touch

Our hands won’t fit perfectly like the books say

It will be a slippery mess

My palm will glisten with perspiration

Streams of fear and nervousness and joy

 

But maybe yours will be warm and strong

Tethering me

And that would be enough, to just

Not let go

Heart line, head line, life line, fate line

I don’t have a fate line

I will wonder what we could be

 

We will hug

And you won’t smell of cologne or aftershave

Or mint or fresh grass or pine

Because I don’t know where those scents come from

You will smell of sweat

And maybe of my old tears

Human

 

When we kiss

It won’t be under the Eiffel Tower

Because things aren’t orchestrated like that

Maybe there will be light

Maybe there will be darkness

But our lips will meet somewhere in between what we know and what escapes us

Somewhere that echoes you and me

 

It won’t be sweet

Laced with drool and nerves and awkwardness and remnants of dinner

Maybe our teeth will knock

Or our lips draw blood

But please don’t eat ice-cream for me

Please don’t eat ice-cream for me

 

When we live

It could be anywhere

But I was born of the city

And it would take time to cultivate The Countryside

However beautiful and serene the unpolished way I like things

Let the mud and grime gather under my nails

Just promise me that it won’t be blood-

Yours or mine

 

I will promise to follow you

If you show me the way to the stars

And the way to the earth too

 

When we die

That is saying one of us

The oceans and skies in your eyes

Will meet their sweet demise

A million billion trillion other molecules and atoms of

Water will weep for you

Air will carry my tears

 

The lost soul in mine

Would close her eyes

And hope that you now see home

I hope that you now see home

 

 

Celestial

She sits by the window

Palms faced upward in an open gesture of hope 

Always she sees people pass

And she smiles

Threading beautiful words together

Weaving stars into constellations 

Colouring in the darkness

And chasing it away

She only invites the moonlight to stay