a broken mirror’s gaze

i am a multitude
that speaks with one voice
broken apart
through lack of choice

the body keeps the score
but the mind holds the key
if emotions are messages
why the fuck do you ignore me?

the face i wear
closely mirrors yours
how else can i survive
when the world itself abhors?

shine light on your shadow
and search your body for truth
why do you keep pretending
the blind can guide the youth?

the mirror is a liar
only one question left to ask
take a breath my child
who doth lie behind the mask?

i used to think i was acting
but now i see the truth
another day wasted
on the folly of youth

a thousand eyes reflected
in a broken mirror’s gaze
take another breath my child
this is all just a phase

there’s no-one left to question
the slow passing of time
because nothing is permanent
‘cept my ink forming rhyme

---

This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry

the body keeps the score

i’m frozen
reading the words scratched upon my soul
long before i knew how to read

but now that i’m baked
i’ve got a new take
a new way to remake
and rewrite the wake

so many tears
for so few words

it is on me
to see
and send love
inwardly

my shadow bleeds ink
yet i hold the pen
with these words
i begin again

for my story will be long
with chapters anew
and these words
are so few

the body keeps the score
but the pen holds the key
the paper is the door
so love what you see

begin again

---

This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry

To Whom Does The Caterpillar Pray?

To whom does the caterpillar pray?
To one on a higher leaf,
or the one already flying away?

Or perhaps to the part of herself who can only see
the future cave she will create instinctively?

When transformation is forced,
is it blessing or curse?
This tree isn’t the perfect home,
but the sky could be worse.

Once encased,
the caterpillar never crawls again.
Her new beginning is just a forced end.
Flittering away towards a new home,
away from everything she has ever known.
Blinded by the sun and battered by the rain,
forced to fly again and again.

But for what does the butterfly pray?
For a calm night,
or the ending of the day,
or a place upon which to sit down and lay?

Or for the hope of a new tree with new leaves,
offering new flowers and new beliefs?

Or perhaps she just prays for the strength to be brave,
and for her last act to be the finding of the space for her kid’s future cave.

Deep inside she knows she will never be able to see
the butterflies that her kids one day grow up to be,
Nor will her kids ever see the efforts she took
to bring them into the sky safely.

No, they will just be.

Waking upon their leaves,
marvelling at the abundance of their tree.
Wondering what comes after their journey
into the cave they too are creating instinctively.

---

This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry

through the eye of a needle

gaze through the eye of a needle
and write prayers upon your skin
watch the moon fall
as you discard the caterpillars twin

the elephant in the room
she remembers it all
stop walking under ladders
lest you risk another the fall

smell the scent of the ocean
as their ship passes in the night
then reap what you sow
by turning on the light

breath in deeply
the scent of morning dew
a single blade of grass dances
with every moment anew

---

This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry

endless

endless waves
endless water
endlessly raging
against an ever changing shore

endlessly hoping
for a peaceful end
endlessly beginning
again and again

then suddenly a splash of cold reality
green and white with a hint of blue
out of my mind and into the sea
physically wet but happy to be

nature showing endlessly more
as endless waves
crash
against the endless shore

---

This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry

burn these pages

brevity may be the soul of wit
but destruction is the soul of poetry

observe

in your hands you hold nature’s majesty
reduced
to mere sheets of dead wood
marked
by the transient thoughts of one blind to the moment

hoping to inspire a fraction of the awe that its life once gave

burn these pages
and feel the flames as they touch your soul
deeper
than any collection of words ever could

---

This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry

inner child’s plea

the body keeps the score
but the mind holds the key
if emotions are messages
why the fuck do you ignore me?

shine light on your shadow
and search your body for truth
why do you keep pretending
the blind can guide the youth?

the mirror is a liar
only one question left to ask
take a breath son
who doth lie behind the mask?

---

This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry

a thousand eyes reflected

i am a multitude
that speaks with one voice
broken apart
through lack of choice

the face i wear
closely mirrors yours
how else can i survive
when the world itself abhors?

used to think i was acting
but now i see the truth
another day wasted
on the folly of youth
a thousand eyes reflected

in a broken mirror’s gaze
quick swallow this pill son
this is all just a phase

there’s no-one left to question
the slow passing of time
nothing is permanent
‘cept my ink forming rhyme

---

This poem is inspired by the book How To Write Evocative Poetry