Friends
​​I built one once,
out of meals and pints,
new recipes and boardgames.
​
Late nights and weekends,
I tinkered and worked,
crafting a memory.
​
Tracing a smile to greet me,
sanding a shoulder to cry on,
discovering a barking cackle.
​
I built a friend,
even as he built me.
Dogs In A Sunlit Park
​​Flying fur and joyous paws,
bringing fun to those outdoors.
Big and small and thin and fat,
who could help but smile at that.
​
Chasing, darting, bouncing balls,
echoing barks off low park walls,
why take your lunch indoors?
When joy roams free on just four paws.
Going Back
​​I returned to old houses,
stiff, formal, uninvited.
​
The scent of memory perfumed by another,
the seats rearranged,
the paintings all wrong.
​
I chatted, reminisced,
lied like I knew this place,
this doll house where I played at old happiness.
​
I dutifully commented on rooms,
I cooed over forgotten junk,
I cried through a smile at this well-intentioned desecration.
Previously
My back hurts,
but I'm young and I run.
My diet's improving,
I lie to my fridge.
​
My job's not too taxing,
but I'm young and I earn.
My back hurts,
but promotions are coming.
​
I'm dating again.
for the one this time now,
but I'm sleeping alone,
and my back hurts
when I wake.
Follow
Chase blue through black trees,
white ghosts dance and glow.
A park stands between us.
Wheels thumping,
heart moving.
Chasing a banshee's yowl,
seeing it flee its own shadow,
as passing ghosts call questions.
We stop for none but the ferryman.
Blue runs red,
horns blare,
yellow screeches on the turn.
Pedals down,
I chase the ambulance towards home,
and an unmet future.