remember

and then
you remember
the breath
and the silence
within

---

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

Sad Zac is Sad

Sad Zac is sad
He’s feeling bad
He’s feeling like he’s been had
That the times he was glad
And feeling rad
Were in fact just a fad

As a wee lad
Sad Zac couldn’t relate to any comrade
He was bullied by Chad
Crying, he asked advice from his dad
‘Just punch his face a tad’
Lesson learnt, fists make a nomad
Add one tick to the notepad
No one approaches the battle clad
No one threatens the mad

Sad Zac is sad
Remembering his dad
Remembering him before he was mad
Rereading the notepad
Reminiscing of the success had
Ruminating on his advice to play mad
And embodying it as a personality pad

Sad Zac now fears the nomad
And trains daily for a fight he’s not yet had
Fear of the footpad wielding a doodad
Has grown into fear of every comrade
‘Where is the rest of the advice, dad?’
‘How can I avoid also going mad?’
‘What can I do to stay feeling glad?’
‘Who can I turn to now that you’re just a notepad?’

Sad Zac is still sad
But also a tad glad
Because putting these thoughts on this notepad
Has alleviated some of the mad
He still feels bad
But writing has healed some of his inner lad

---

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

Life Is Just A Costume

Impending doom
Looms over the womb
Nothing can exhume
The gloom of the tomb
Life is just a costume
An heirloom
A temporary bloom
Before the darkness consumes

---

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

Irony

Do I think it true
Because it is
Or because I want it to be?

I cannot see
The bonds that blind me
But I know they’re there

Death isn’t tragic
But how death occurs
Most often is

Fantasy
Can only exist
If I’m an active participant

---

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

Impact

When I die
What will be left of me
Beyond these words
And
The impact I have had
On others?

---

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

I Struggle

I struggle to know
What I want to do
But I know
I want to do it with you

I struggle to know
What I want to be
But I know
I want you to be with me

I struggle to know
Who I am
But I know
Without you I’m a sham

I struggle to know
What I should think
But I know
Without you I’d shrink

I struggle to know
Where I want to go
But I know
I want you to show
I struggle to know
But you help me see
You show me
What it means to be me

You teach
And you guide
You let me confide

You help
And you heal
You let me conceal

You are
My everything
In my life
All hope you bring

---

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

Inertia

I’m held
By the inertia
Of my own inaction

If
If only
If only I
If only I could
If only I could just
If only I could just take

One
Single
Step

I know
I’d be free
Forever

---

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

I Wonder

I wonder
If my role here
Is to sacrifice myself
For others

No one
Gets out alive
So why not give
What I have?

Perhaps
In doing so
I’d find
My purpose

---

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

Flee

All it takes
For me to flee
Is a sharp look
From you
Directed at me

---

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

Dad

What thoughts
Are confined
In the vault
Of your mind?

Why
Don’t you speak
And share
What you think?

I don’t know
Who you are
Beyond what
I can see

And what I can see
Is that you
Clearly
Have no time for me

---

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

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

years on repeat

huddled 
in a corner
years 
on repeat
every minute

---

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

Without

Without hope
My inner compass breaks

Without faith
I can’t find it

Without love
I don’t have anywhere to go

---

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

Those Few Words

Those few words
Gave voice
To the silence
I always knew
Was there

---

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

The Love That’s Real

The love I feel
So impossibly real

The love that’s real
So impossible to feel

A point of reality
Against a bleak totality

A bleak totality
Devoid of reality

A pinprick of light
That illuminates the night

A dark night
Pricked with terror and flight

A whispered prayer
Promising a truth and a dare

A violent glare
Promising pain and a scare

A look and a touch
That’s never too much

A look and a touch
That’s always too much

A lifetime together
Souls entwined forever

A lifetime together
Souls enmeshed forever

---

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

They See

I get more solace
In a day
From strangers online
Than you’ve given me
In a lifetime

They ask
They listen
They see

You just speak

Holding me
To higher standards
Than you hold yourself

Judging me
For acting
How you act

Hating me
For being
Who I am

---

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

The Devil Speaks

The devil speaks
With the voice
Of those
I love

Whispering
Half truths
Whispering
Lies

I cannot
Always
Tell
Them apart

So
I hurt
The very people
I wanted to save

---

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

Silence

And just like that
The silence
Was broken

---

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

Mere Thought

Isn’t it fascinating
Just how much
A mere thought
Can derail
An otherwise perfect day?

---

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

Running

I’ve been running
For so long
That I’ve forgotten
What scared me
In the first place

---

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