THE GOLDEN BREED

She trails a stick behind her
Walking on foam where
Waves meet the sand
Bares her youth in her belly
Flat, feminine and tanned
Hidden behind shades I
Pretend not to see
She flashes a smile
I know
She sees right through
Old fool me

A waterman his face is split
By wind and salt and sand
Cracks so deep his skin looks
Like old broken pavement
Emerges from a Kombi
Rolling tobacco
Making tea
I wave he nods
Looks away
Quickly out to sea

Sun dusted cinnamon
They are drawn
A place of gathering
Tonight fires will glow
Out near the point
I will still be here
Angels may arrive tomorrow
Today don't bother me
On the beach and in the Sun
With
The Golden Breed

Shoreham 23/12/12

INTO THE LIGHT

Whisper to me angel
Place red lips beside my ear
Tell me tales of elegance and night
Your beauty breaks upon me like
Summer's first warm wave
Weave me a dream before
You merge into the light

I rise upon the hope of
A golden new born day
I drink from a heart shaped cup
Of mist and wine
My mind stained with experience
My blood stained black with ink
My soul tattooed with
Mandalas of time

Sing honestly sweet angel
Part the veil and draw me in
Your song echoes in the chambers
Of the night
Chant a new and haunting mantra
Engrave it on my heart
Weave of me a dream before I
Merge into the light.
14/12/12

China

She flips on my hat, cross legged 

Sits naked on the bed

"No room for big brains

In here," she says

Silky, black hair cascades over cinnamon

A lustrous cocoon

I turn my back, she attacks

Laughter fills the room

"I go home Monday

You come to Hong Kong someday

Live on spine of dragon

All your cares are gone"

An ocean lies between us and

It's more than just the sea

I smile and look away

A million things to say that

I ... don't say

Tomorrow is sand

Sifting through my fingers

She is gone but

The scent, the taste still linger

"You think about her,  Round Eye"

She scowls and growls and

turns her pretty head

"Not your concern China Girl

Come on back to bed ..."

The Abyss

I will know tomorrow
I create it in my mind
Today I build foundations
To support the rest of time
I smile into the abyss
I cut and turn the key
There is no more mystery
The answer lies in me

Dust

Motes float
in the light of an overheated room
Straw broom
sweeps detritus through broad cracks between boards
Too few words
dusted coconut over a clinical goodbye
Empty blue eyes

This is not dust
Not some stupid crush
A water colour the Sun will fade
This is not dust
It will not rust
It does not float or blow away

Don't know what I missed
Why I was dismissed
Handed my hat
and shown the door
No explanation provided
Of why you decided
I am not worth the effort no more

You say you want something
For me it's all or nothing
The dust that you raised
Fills my throat and my eyes
Look into the gloom
I stand at the centre of the room
Raising my head 
and my hand and
Waving goodbye

Hypnosis

To dream without sleep
A voice lights the path within
A tramp approaches

The Flow

A warm, errant wind rattles the chimes

The bush is coming to life, Spring's on the rise

The Sun whispers gently to petal and leaves
Bees laden with pollen hang in the breeze

I sit in the warmth and doze in the Sun

I dream of the things my life has become

I close my eyes and open my mind

I create a vision, leave illusion behind

Love flows through my being and cascades over my soul

Its path and its purpose are beyond my control

Love moves through me and in me, I delight and I yearn

A spoonful is given, an ocean returns

I watch new life blooming and hear nature's song

These truths I am feeling I know are not wrong

I set the rail of my board and leave all else to chance

Ride the perfect wave of life's most beautiful dance

No Retreat

No stilling the wind
Or turning the tide
I've torn open my heart
And let the love ride

I hear a tap on my window
Someone seeks sanctuary
There's no retreating with honour
This is meant to be

It seems so fucked up but
It is meant to be

Poet

Clouded eye
Gnarled, trembling hand
Poised over poisoned paper
Collections of words
Twisted to purpose
Philosophies
Bent and dented

Did her
blonde mane frame
her cherubic face
as you struck away
the small hands raised
in expectation
of a father's
affection?

Daddy ...

In archaic style
oozing cold piety
the painful prose is
dragged screaming
and squirming
onto pages and
pressed dry

Did she
shy from
the threat of your hand
withstanding more
than you thought
she dare withstand?
This child
This wee one?

Reverend ...

Night sweats soil
foul grey sheets
ink which stains
black cracked nails
washes over
life lived
too long

Did you
find solace
in what you tore
from her?
Hold aloft the sacred sacrifice
it shines before your greedy eyes
scribbler, perhaps scribe
But never...

Poet

The Thousand Miles

A cloud's embraced the Moon
A current's drained the reef
Gospel's in the ghetto
Where they struggle to believe
Diamonds beneath the pavement
Where garbage rots in piles
One step beyond the concrete
Leaves a thousand miles behind

I'm singing on a corner
Five strings and broken blues
A long forgotten crooner
Amongst the human refuse
Singing into any ear
The insane and the blind
Inviting them to enter here
And leave the thousand miles behind

Water Man

Each poem is about you
and every song a
different point of view
of how you move or
breathe or dream ...
It's always
about you

I'm a water man
the sea runs through
my blood
Moons
steer my tides
my days and nights my
emotions and my moods

I knew you ...
I knew you before
I kissed you
wrote for you or
screwed you
Can you see
it through? Coz ...
it's empty without you.

The wind is running
from the North
swells are breaking
down the point
Salt stings
cracking lips
I barely hear the voice,
I whisper my choice

You,
so beautiful and broken
A storm of ryhme and chaos
at the centre of my ocean
I have lived a life
sifting shifting sand,
always about you
I am a waterman

Suitcase

You've travelled North
Up to the coast
For a week
Of Sun and sea
You smiled and said
A well earned rest was
Your itinerary
When you unpacked
Your luggage you
Were dismayed to see
The suitcase you
Had carefully packed
Was full of misery

Your little pouch of magic
Is buried in a pit
You wish that it was with you
But you can live without it
What you need most to carry
You have with you there
A suitcase full of misery
And a heart full of despair

Rubble and Faith

In shrouds of mist
a silvery light burns,
calls me from home
through the twists
and the turns.
Rubble and faith
shift under my tread;
the road is a mystery
to both living and dead.

A Moonless night;
all I can see
is what faint starlight
reveals to me.
Beyond the next step
deep darkness is cast
and blackness swallows
the tracks of my past.

Unwaveringly I focus
on the shining light;
melting the mist;
splitting the night;
calling me forward,
ever on;
my ears are filled by
a Siren's song.

I do not fear
or falter my step;
I turn my mind from
pain and regret.
I open my heart,
fix my gaze
and walk blindly into
the darkness and haze.

Oases

Shifting sand and moving time
There are places, blue oases
I take my mind

Troubles, trials and other cares
haunt my life; trouble and strife
they cannot enter there

No restriction, no boundaries
I free, what I wish to be
There, nothing touches me

The oases spread, the desert flowers
Precious schemes, towering dreams
are the products of their power

Still, clear water; perfect peace
In silent contemplation; deep, deep meditation
I travel to oases

Moons, Magic & Monsters

All the moons that we can visit
Twirl above us in the night
The air is full of magic
To fuel an endless flight
The universe is full of wonders
Which manifest at our command
We long for verdant landscapes
Beaches of crystal sands
Yet you stand deliberating
A little hesitant and scared
Wondering if there may be
Monsters under the bed

Wishes

A moment
A day
A stop along the way

A window
A door
Foundations and a floor

A future
A past
The first breath to the last

A poem
A song
To who do they belong?

A lover
A friend
A beginning and an end

A touch
A scent
Wishes yet unspent

Addicted to You

I'm dreaming 'bout how
You move your body at night
Just open up a vein and pour your light
Into me
I'm addicted to you

There's a shadow 'cross the Moon
There's a wolf in the woods
And despite all the danger
It feels so fucking good
I'm addicted to you

A thousand texts on my telephone
'bout what we're doing and what we're growing
You and me

A car speeding down to Dead Man's Curve
White knuckles on the wheel
Can we hold our nerve ...?
I'm addicted to you

I've been kissing your mouth
Reading your life in your eyes
Open up a vein and pour your light
Into me
I'm addicted to you

Moored in a Mist

Silent as stone, moored in a mist
sky reflected in the sea, a poetry
of stillness
And me emulating
patient, awaiting
a heartbeat to sound
a statement profound
arising from the void
but not voiding
the sanctuary of
stillness.

Reticence

At Pellegrini's the old waiter's eyes

shine bright at the sight of your baby blues

and people with coffees and football talk

swirl slowly around, dancing like extras -

we exit to a lane, and falling rain

The ghosts of past victories and defeats

accompany us through the galleries

and we move apart, ever conscious of

our proximity to, and wary of

the tragic empress, the vain dictator

Over  aged red wine and fillet le boeuf

rationalities are voiced and agreed

yet still an enveloping mist descends

a fugitive truth seeks sanctuary

in the hazy half light of reticence

I leave your bed before dawn touches us

I have been so lost and now fear the fall

Napoleon at the field of triumph

rears his white stallion and turns his head

noticing I hang by gossamer thread

Everyone

Everyone's gotta be somewhere
Harmonies within a symphony
In golden light and deep dark shadows
You'll find many small fragments of me

A billion drops within an ocean
Countless photons fire the starry skies
A lifetime's built from whips of air
All our buried feelings, fill every lover's sigh


I have been woven into fabric
A single solitary thread
A life crossed by so many others
A cloth transcending life and death


I am dreamed into finite being
During a dream of eternal peace
Am I the dream? Am I the dreamer?
Will awakening mean release?


I know you recognise me
My brand is seared into your grain
Our dreams are dreamed together
Seperate yet together, we eternally remain

Balnarring Beach

I've been kicking these same old stones for years

The general store at Balnarring Beach

Near where it is said Andy and Meg owned

A home on Cliff Road, perhaps the new one

Above the point where I met the dolphins

That chilled Spring day when I surfed it alone

Sometimes I walk and at others I run

Along dusty back roads and Merricks Beach

Today I take it slow, noticing waves

And dancing seaweed in shallow rock pools

Philip Island still wears the morning's mist

The sand is strolled by old people and dogs

A perfunctory nod, a gappy smile

Speaks of hidden longing for youth long passed

I wonder how long will it take the tides

To expose bones I've buried on my shore

Locked with a brass key is the seaman's chest

Consigned to the deep my tired confession

Here comes the Son

Driving through driving rain
You beside me singing
"Here Comes the Sun"
School uniform and scruffy shoes
What great good did I ever do
To earn the priceless gift of you
My son?

Out of Service

Shadows hide shadows
Sinister shapes haunt stairwells
The lift a yawning chasm
Swift and light the tread

Flirt

Are we flirting yet?
Or is this idle chit chat?
Words spin and dissolve.

Ballarat Road

Western Highway cruise
Brod Smih's Dingoes and sunshine
Bitumen and blues.