Telling you the truth

​We walk around,
our heads like sealed rooms,
wondering what's behind all those locked doors and shuttered windows.
We think we know someone.
We think we really know someone - but we never really know anybody.
We barely know ourselves!
​We say we want understanding,
that we want to get inside other peoples heads.
Would we really want to do that?
Would we want to prise open those sealed doors and windows?
For to enter those rooms could be a curse.
​Imagine discovering the truth,
those hidden secrets
along with all that noise from the strangers we meet.
You'd be able to put a thought
to a fleeting glance,
but,
​a simple walk down a crowded street
would become a deafening roar 
of a thousand minds all telling you the truth.

I need a Twix

Stomach to brain: I need a Twix
Brain to stomach: No you don't!
Stomach to brain: I do!
Brain to stomach: I'm in charge here!
Stomach to brain: But I do!
Brain to stomach: You're behaving like a child!
Stomach to brain: I need a Twix!
Brain to stomach: No you don't!
Stomach to brain: Do, do do!
Brain to stomach: Oh very well! But you're only having a small one!
Stomach to brain: I want a big one!
Brain to stomach: I said I'm in charge here!
Stomach to brain: Big one, big one, big one!
Brain to stomach: Oh very well, there you go!
(Short pause)

...Stomach to brain: I want another one!





(Haiku)

One hundred and two
pounds for a tank of fuel!
My first house cost less!

Two Generations

​Listen as two generations speak - not with words,
but with looks and gestures.
​The older woman glaring at a younger woman - forgetting it was she who grew up in the 'sixties',
the decade of free love,
the burning of bras,
mini-skirts,
drugs and rock 'n' roll.

​The younger woman mirrors those exact footsteps
many years later,
flaunting her beauty across a hot supermarket carpark
dressed only in a revealing bikini and beach shoes.

​Perhaps the older woman looks on,
knowing the consequences of such a life - a life the younger woman cannot yet see.
Unaware that this walk will lead her to the very same place,
where she will find herself years from now
dressed modestly, 
with her memories untold,
slowly unpacking her shopping
into the boot of her unassuming old car.

Tennis

In the heat of a Parisian spring
deep in the trees of the 16th arrondissement
under the 'concertina like' roof
fluttering amongst enthralled spectators 
fans flap like butterfly wings 
flitting amidst a sea of panama hats
parasols
and fingers wrapped 'round long cooling drinks - all trying to cool the moment 

(Haiku)

If you were to wait 
long enough, you'll find most things 
are temporary!