escape their fate

souls entwined
with a desire
to escape their fate

ancestors
collectively mourning
lost childhoods

disparate people
drawn together
by shared suffering

stumbling
forward
into a new life

fleeing their pasts
unwittingly creating
their futures

they know
what not to do
but not what to do

attempting to avoid
the same mistakes
their parents made

desperately praying
for their children
to escape their fate

---

This poem is from the book A Requiem For What Could Have Been: Poetry For The Broken

Caged Animal

Isolation.
Pacing.
Caged.

No hunt.
No kill.
No thrill.

Domesticated.
Trained.
Punished.

I want to run.
I want to fight.
I want to fuck.

Your protection wasn’t asked for.
Your protection isn’t needed.
Your protection is a slow death.

I am safe.
Trapped behind bars.
Never missing a meal.

Stuck in a comfortable rut.
Stuck in your routine.
Stuck and on display.

Nature sanitised.
Whitewashed reality.
A parody.

Just one slip.
Just one mistake.
And you’re mine.

Devoured.
Devoured screaming.
Devoured alive.

Your fault.
You caged me.
You attempted to tame me.

You put me here.
You put me on display.
You dropped your guard.

Lulled.
Hypnotised.
Dazed.

Cornered.
Primal.
Rage.

This is evolution.
This is inevitability.
This is life.

---

This poem is from the book Bound To The Wings Of A Butterfly