My Poem ‘Coffee’

I’m sitting in my favourite coffee shop,
enjoying a large, dark, incredible, exquisite,
cup of coffee that tastes as if the coffee beans
had been grown in the garden of Elysium,
and brewed, made, and poured on Mount Olympus by Zeus himself.
The taste in my mouth, the sensation, the experience,
the feeling of swallowing the hot coffee is like nothing else!

I am in another place, I am at another time;
I see new people that I have never seen before around me;
I recognise others that I regularly see
frequent this same coffee shop,
and at the same time of day with me-
they recognise me too,
they are in their own world…
but there is something in the air:
in the taste, in the smell,
in the temperature of where we are, that accentuates, combines,
and makes everything about these brief, enjoyable,
shared moments feel sublime!

The drug that intoxicates me,
heightened by the taste of the coffee,
opens my subconscious and makes me broadcast
my happiness and my contentment to everyone who sees me.

The world outside is calling me back,
but I don’t want to go…
The only thing that could make me happier is sharing this,
sharing everything, with someone-
someone who is like me;
someone who appreciates every second, every moment, like I do;
someone who doesn’t need to say anything,
because they feel what it is I am feeling anyway, always;
someone who just knows.

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My Poem ‘Bench-Mark’

There are not that many people
who have the time, or find the need,
to sit back and realize that they have it all.
Maybe it is just me, maybe I am just spoiled,
but I have had the pleasure, on many occasions,
to be able to take a seat,
to be able to close my eyes and to feel
like I need nothing more.
Perhaps I shouldn’t say this,
perhaps I shouldn’t write this down;
but after all the years of fun, reflection,
elation, realisation, rediscovery-
for the first time in my life,
I believe that I am standing on a solid and lasting
life-affirming foundation.
Maybe I am jinxing it by saying it,
but what I have in my life now is what I have always wanted.
My life is made up of many different pieces of all shapes and sizes-
most are the same as everyone else’s,
only they are woven-together with a different coloured thread.
My life is as it should be:
filled with all the things that test me, complete me,
give reason to me and for me,
and all the things that make me happy.
This feeling of completion is momentary,
this feeling of having it all wont last, nor should it;
but most people don’t have the time
to thank anyone or anything for what they have,
unless they survive a test of character,
or something phenomenal akin to that of a lightning hit.
Today I walked down a road, known locally as “The Mad Mile”,
and it hit me that what I am blessed to know as my life,
as it is now, to my eyes, is the same as it is in the daylight,
as it is in the dark;
with every step that I take down this “mad mile”,
with every thought that came and went-
I realised that all that I am now
will forever be my benchmark.

My Poem ‘The Gentleman’

Who am I? Who do I want to be?
If I were to think hard enough and for long enough,
could I make any identity my reality?
Does what we think of ourselves matter more to us than how others see us?
Does always playing the part written for us by the world
just lead us into losing our focus?

Words are important, what we say and write are an essential road-map;
emphasis, effort, and effectiveness,
are the linchpin of every conversation and can bridge any gap.

I am but a man, a gentleman,
who acts for others who are just like me-
I hold open doors, I take great interest in the well-being of a stranger,
I protect, defend, and help relieve others of their vulnerabilities;
but does that make me perfect, do I want to be perfect, am I perfect?
No.
However, I do believe that happiness and contentment
is meant and can be attained by all
if everyone were to let their intent and their feelings show.

When I write poetry I write not just for me,
but for everyone in the entire world-
no matter their birth, belief, education, or persuasion;
because such things may be the first rung on your life’s ladder,
but they are not the primer of your entire life equation.

I write about what I love, what motivates me, what I have felt and seen,
and also what I would give everything to see,
but what I do not need to see-
I write so that someday someone may read my poems
and be inspired to create their own work of art,
because that is exactly what happened to me.

What I have learned in my life thus far
is that because of the actions of the few and of the minority
sometimes things in life just don’t go the way of your expectations,
or to plan-
but that in the long-run it doesn’t matter;
as long as you stay resolute, true to what is you,
the model of a gentlewoman, or a gentleman.