My Poem ‘My Face’

I have never been able to hide my feelings,
I have never been successful in disguising my emotions,
I have never been able to figure out
how not to have everything I am thinking
written all over my face,
I have never been good at realising who and what
it is people observe about me in what they are seeing,
I have never been able to wear a mask of my own face,
because my expressions are apparently so blatant
they change more frequently and are more noticeable
than waves of an ocean,
I have never been eye to eye with someone
and worn an expression that was the opposite
of what I was feeling on the inside-
like the winner of a card game,
who is able to bluff better than anyone else
because they have the greater poker face.

I am a very open person in some ways,
but not in every way;
however, my face paints a picture of my thoughts
and contorts like no one else;
I do not reveal every detail of my heart,
but when it comes to sharing as much of me as possible
via involuntarily manifested external emotions,
I am as transparent as a cell.
Being so noticeable and open has got me into a lot of trouble
and has allowed people to read me whenever they want to like a book-
people have told me that they know exactly what I am thinking
from seeing my reaction to something they said with a single look.
When I am sad, everyone knows.
When I am happy, I let it show.
When I am thinking about something,
it is as if others can see the hemispheres of my brain sparking.
When I am angry, people can see in me
that I am ready to strike and burst with energy
of the power and the electricity of a bolt of lightning.

Everything about me is plain to see.
Everything that I think about is as deep and as vast as outer space.
Everything about what is on my mind,
I am sure people can read and have read
without me having to say a word or write a single line of poetry.
Everything that you want to know is there every second
and written all over my face.

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My Poem ‘Caesura’

Silence. A pause. A full-stop.
A time to think and see.
A natural and needed interruption,
a resonant song-lyric,
a breath-taking moment,
an opportunity to not have to worry about anything
and simply be.

We all need a break sometimes-
even the best play has an intermission.
We all need to stop and look outside at dusk
and watch the luminous lightning-bugs and fireflies,
and hear the sound of the crickets chirping.
It can be a truly beautiful time,
especially when you have had a lot on you mind recently,
and you want to let all your pent-up feelings and emotions go-
that time when you are looking up at the twilight sky
and you know and you see the universe is telling you something
that it wants you to hear, and you need to hear-
that is the time when you can leave the front door of you open
for the stale air to leave and to let the fresh air come in
and clear your mind and vision, to see things come in
and go out of your life with every breath that you take,
and with every gust that the wind blows.
It can feel cold for a while
while you catch your breath and you breathe in deep,
it can be one of the few moments in your life
when you can actually feel truly free.

Sometimes you don’t know you need someone in your life
until you meet them and they fill your life, days, and hours,
with every part of them;
sometimes you don’t know how much you need something in your life
until you feel like you can’t live without it ever again.
Sometimes you don’t know a road you have been traveling on for years
until you break down on it and you stop and see its scenery
up-close and unexpectedly;
sometimes you don’t know your own self
until you look in the mirror and you ask yourself ‘Who am I?’,
sometimes you have to act selfishly, but not hurtfully-
single-mindedly, but not unashamedly.
Sometimes you have to live the life you want to live
rather than the life others would have you live,
so that even a tear can be a smile of happiness from your eye.

Life is about finding peace.
Life is about finding balance.
Life is about acting on things when you are sure about them,
and about using every ounce of emotion- including fear.
Life is about making the most of everything,
exposing yourself to as much as you can,
and letting your heart, mind, soul, run free of any leash.
Life is about taking every chance.
Life is about… that!

My Poem ‘Graduation’

The most natural need of everyone on this planet
is to better themselves;
the most amazing feeling you can have
is that of achieving something;
the most phenomenal day of your life
is when you look around, look forward,
and look back on what you have done,
and you can feel light-headed and heavy-hearted,
and you can genuinely and unashamedly feel so proud of yourself;
when the most life-changing moment of your life-
a moment that feels perfect in every way,
and in every detail and sensation-
comes, and you realize its arrival,
it is like the moment when you know that you have met
the one person you want to be with for the rest of your life,
and share every day of their life with them,
and one day wear their ring.

In life, we never stop learning.
In our mind, we never stop thinking.
With our emotions, we never stop feeling.
With our best intentions, we never stop dreaming, believing-
its all a part of the great gift that is called ‘living’

Everyone is a student of life.
Every baby born right this minute,
every child taking their first step
on their two feet for the first time,
every boy and girl falling in love with each other
and sharing their first kiss;
every man and woman whose love has come together
in the most amazing, incredible, and wonderful way their is,
and they discover they are going to become the parents
of a beautiful child-
everybody, everyday, experiences something that,
if they are very lucky, will inform every hour that follows,
and if they have a dream that they are working towards
and making a reality in every thing that they do,
their lives will be rich like no other,
and every instant will be one that they don’t want to miss.

Today is graduation day for so many people-
even for those who never went to college or university.
Today is graduation day for anyone who reached a goal,
or made something that is uniquely theirs,
that is something you can stare at and remember
how you got to where you are-
like a diploma, or a certificate, or a driving license,
or an application approval letter, or a baby-
something that wouldn’t exist without you
that was worth everything that you had to put into it,
that you marvel at every second, and is so beautiful.
Today is graduation day for everyone who started somewhere
with something, but who wants more,
who is driven in some way to do and to find their way,
and their ultimate reason for living,
on the endless and infinite path of their destiny.

Every day, every one of us can achieve something
that will blaze a trail that will light our future,
and be a beacon for others to follow, and achieve something
epic, amazing, magical, of their own when the time is right
for them to shine and use the gifts that they were born with,
but which just needs to be harnessed, mentored, and molded,
and given every support and encouragement;
because that will be everything that they need to do
all that they need to go above and beyond
their original motivation,
and become and realize that they and anyone can achieve anything.
Everyone, no matter who they are, where they are,
what they are doing, where they have come from,
where they are going, can have their own day of graduation.

My Poem ‘First Day’

That feeling in your stomach is unmistakable,
that pounding in your chest is hard to stop,
that cloud between your ears is slow to clear,
but when you finally arrive and start your job
on your first day it doesn’t take long
to find your feet and feel comfortable-
whether your job is in an office,
in a restaurant, in a factory,
at an airport, on your feet, behind a desk,
or being their to help and assist
lots of different customers in a shop,
it doesn’t take long for your natural gifts to take over
and for all the butterflies that have been fluttering
in your stomach to disappear.

You never forget the first day of your first job,
you never forget how much that first day
becomes a blur of many different emotions
that if you let them all get the better of you
it wont take you long to say you are never going to learn
all that you have been taught and told,
and you will probably even want to go to a corner and sob;
but if you don’t do that, if you don’t give up
even after making the first ten of the many
natural and necessary mistakes that you and everyone always make,
the more you will gain confidence and feel at-ease
in what you are doing, and in your own abilities,
and you will come to the conclusion
that what at first you thought was hard
and incapable of being learned
is actually a piece of cake.
The more you do something the more it becomes second-nature to you,
the more you work at what you know, the more comfortable you become,
and every time you start back at work after a day off
it will be like stepping back into an old pair of shoes.

For some people their first job is the job they have always wanted;
for some people, especially those who have just left school,
their first job is just the first step up a hill
to where they are supposed to be;
for some people their first job is their passion
and the thing that they do that they love
and have dreamed about doing since they were a kid;
for some people their first job is but the seed
that will one day grow and bare the fruit that will never stop
providing for their family, and feed all the branches that stem
and grow from you into your life’s tree.

Your first day of school is always the day you want to forget;
your first day of college or university
goes by so fast and you may not remember it all,
because your mind feels like it is traveling
at a thousand miles an hour in a supersonic jet;
your first day of work is like you are acting out
and saying the lines of an actor in a play;
your first day is the day you should try your hardest to remember,
because it can only get better afterwards-
so remember, your best day, in whatever it is that you do,
is always going to be your first day.

My Poem ‘Timeless’

We are born only once,
but in our lives we are capable of infinite restarts,
resets, and rebirths-
every day you can begin again, wipe the slate clean,
and live on a brand new version of Earth.

Life is a state of mind.
Feelings can change.
Too much light can send you blind.
Emotions have a range.

No one can know the future
until it becomes the present.
The past is an empty room once you have left it
and removed its contents.

A heart can never be broken,
it can only be scarred.
A mind can always be open,
but you can sometimes take its thoughts too far.

We tell ourselves that we will learn from our mistakes,
but we never listen.
We give others our words of wisdom,
but when the time comes for us to practice what we preach
our mind goes dark like an eclipsed sun.

Love is not enough.
Fate cannot be fought.
You can’t call the universe’s bluff.
A true gift cannot be bought.

Knowledge means nothing if it is not passed on.
Ideas are like captured lightning-
you have to harness there power
before there flash is gone.

You can’t run forever.
There comes a time when you have to clean up your own mess.
You can hide from yourself if you want,
but that plan isn’t clever.
Stand tall at the end and you will be timeless.

My Poem ‘Remember’

We forget so much of what happens to us in our lives,
and when we do think back we often remember the bad before the good;
but we are not meant to remember everything-
even though at times we wish that we would,
and would give anything to ensure that we could.

Pure, undiluted, memory is momentary-
it lives for the briefest of times
and then it changes and evolves
into something else entirely.
Memory requires a totem, an anchor,
so that we can hear its echo again,
and see its projection-
something like a sound, or a smell,
or a symbol, or a feeling-
so that we can regain any kind of connection.

The events of our lives are like water in our hands,
and we are unable to stop our clear recollections of those events
from passing through our fingers like grains of sand;
however, no matter how many details fall away,
something always remains-
pieces of a life-time of memories and experiences of a puzzle enshrined within our brain.
It isn’t until we get older that we mourn what we have lost
and chastise ourselves for not remembering more-
that is why we celebrate and champion the achievements of others
when we are in their presence
and when we feel like we are a part of their accolade,
because it makes our aspirations soar.

In every culture on Earth since the beginning of recorded history,
humanity has endeavored to invent new ways of every kind
to help us recall that which we forget so easily:
calendars, cave paintings, monuments, time-pieces, reminders,
photographs- something we can look to
which will make sense of the world around us-
a life-line that keeps us from sinking to depths of perpetual unconsciousness.

The more heightened our emotions of something are
the stronger our memory of them will be-
that is why the more that you think about something,
and the more that you try not to think about something,
the more it will recur in your dreams
and float on the surface of your memory.

It is important to remember,
but you cannot remember everything, all of the time.
Just as in life, the greatest gift of our memories
is what pops into our minds when we least expect-
and the more unexpected the thought
the more that we ponder its origin,
and the more we reflect.

My Poem ‘Mad Man’

I can still remember the first time that I was stung by a bee,
I can still feel the pain that started at my left arm
that then spread throughout my entire body;
I can still taste the tears that welled up in my eyes,
rolled down my cheeks, and found there way into my mouth;
I can still see what it was that put a smile on my face afterwards,
and what soon returned me to full-health.

It is fair to say that I had a lot of crushes while growing up-
“love” was a word that I heard all the time,
but it wasn’t until I saw a girl that I cared about kissing my best friend
that I felt and I saw what love was close-up.
It was a strange, painful, and an unfamiliar, feeling at the time-
I can still see them both, even after all these years,
in each others embrace, as I stood staring at them
as if they were in that moment something divine.
Unfortunately, after I saw them,
my mind became flooded with feelings of hurt, jealousy, and betrayal-
I thought that I was going to cry,
because my emotions were over-full.
To this day, I still say that the moment I first felt my heart break
hurt more than any bee sting, ever-
it is a pain that changes you from head to toe,
and I would wish it on no one, never.

It wasn’t until years later that I concluded that
that first heart-shattering moment was the tell-tale sign
that I had fallen in love;
it wasn’t until I had fallen over and over, again and again,
into the beautiful ocean of wonder
that were the eyes of someone who I cared the world for
that I understood that being in love was what fitted me like a glove.

I love to love, I love what love does to me,
I love who I am when I am in love,
and I love that the person that I love never stops inspiring me.
I still get intoxicated when a certain person talks to me,
or enters the same room-
it is everything about them: their voice, their face, their smile,
their eyes, that intoxicates me- more than any spirit, or perfume.

People say that love is blind.
They say that love can make you crazy, mad,
that there isn’t a manual for perfection,
and that love never goes to plan-
and I would have to agree;
but love, to me, is the best thing in the world,
and if you have to be mad to feel it,
then call me a mad man.

My Poem ‘Cicero’

“Speak your mind”,
“Honesty is always the best policy”,
“Sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind”
“Confidence is always the cure to jealousy”-
great sentiments, good advice;
but how many people truly believe them,
how many people truly believe what they say?
How many people are honest with themselves, and with others?
How many people truly make the most out of every day?

To be heard, you have to speak out;
to accomplish something, you have to have no doubt;
to be yourself, you need only to act naturally;
to be seen, sometimes you have to become your own gallery.

Everyone has an opinion about every thing,
and most people rebel against any kind of persuasion-
an expert in behaviour would say that people are predictable,
repeating patterns that can be calculated, as if in some kind of an equation;
however, I would argue that when intense emotions are concerned
that can never be the case-
just as in great beauty we can find vulgarity,
and in chaos we can discover immense grace.

Some people internalize their emotions and thoughts-
while others shout them into the air, and paint them on walls.
Some only reveal their true-side
when they are following the exploits of their favourite team,
in their favourite sport-
while others wear their interests on their chests twenty-four hours a day,
with the ferocity of Niagara Falls.
Whether quiet, or outspoken- everybody has a voice;
whether cerebral, or brutish- our defining nature has seasons,
like a planet does; however, our real defining power lies in our gift of choice.

Unlike an animal, Human beings are not driven by instinct alone-
what fulfills us is self-preservation:
keeping alive not just ourselves, but also our peace of mind,
our justifications, and our fixations.
Some people try to hide behind hate to mask their misunderstanding;
some people retreat into cruelty when their frustrations become too demanding.

The best of us speak only when we have something worthwhile to say,
or when our voice is needed most of all;
the greatest of us act for the benefit of everyone-
giving their last breath for another, no matter the cost-
always going beyond the call.

In the long-run, honesty will always ensure loyalty-
at first, if people don’t like or agree with what has been said,
they may not believe you,
but if you hold-true to what you think and say-
they will always trust you.
In the end, when all is said and done,
if you are wrong, and you know that you are wrong,
there is no shame in voicing your disappointment and letting it show-
because it makes it clear to all that what you believed meant something to you-
and there is no harm, after which, in bowing your head low,
in acceptance, and in remembrance of the great philosopher and orator
that was Cicero.

My Poem ‘Empty House’

When is an empty house not an empty house?
When it is filled with memories.
When you walk into a room
and the emotions, feelings, and love, for a moment in time
reform in your mind from every corner, like a scent on a breeze.

When is an empty house not an empty house?
When it is filled with music.
When the walls and the windows of your home
echo, reverberate, and bring to life the music of your mind and your heart
in time with every clock and accentuating every tick.

When is an empty house not an empty house?
When it is filled with light.
When the golden energy waves of the suns ocean
flood your home from every window and door;
or when a full-moon hovers above us
and welcomes in the change from day into night.

When is an empty house not an empty house?
When every step that we take up stairs, over floorboards,
into the recesses of our home, reminds us that it is alive,
moving, and talking to us all the time-
when even in an empty house we can feel an energy all around us,
as if stemming from an unseen dimension that exist to entwine.

When is an empty house not an empty house?
When you are in it.
When a house becomes your home,
and means more to you than a place that you choose to inhabit.

When is an empty house not an empty house?
When you stand in the living room of your home
and you say out-loud, but to no one in particular,
that this is the place you want to return to every night,
and perhaps may one day want to share with a spouse-
then you know, then you feel,
that this is not, that this has never been, that this will never be,
an empty house.

Home

My Poem ‘Constellations’

Stars live and stars die
every second in the night-sky
without anyone even blinking an eye;
friendships are made, relationships end, hearts are broken,
every hour of every day- rain or shine,
the constellations of your life change all around you
until there pattern reforms into a brand new design.

One day you are walking down the high-street of your local town
admiring the architecture of the buildings
and smiling gleefully at the amount of joy in the air,
and the next day you are walking down the same street
as buildings burn, people cry, and shop owners look on in horror
as their livelihood crumbles before their eyes,
and they can do nothing but stare.

We all live and are all in a relationship with one another,
no matter our location, language, or life-story-
what we do impacts all; each one of us are elements, experiments,
interactions, and reactions, in a sphere-shaped, chaotic,
constantly-changing and evolving laboratory.

Nothing in life can live alone, the world doesn’t work that way-
no matter the direction you go,
there is always someone who is going to meet you halfway,
and if conditions are well-met,
then no force on Earth could ever drive you away.

When we build something from the ground up,
when we are there at the conception of something-
the essential DNA that binds and bolsters somethings existence forevermore;
to then one day see it lying at your feet in tatters,
is somethings that no one could ever prepare themselves for.

Buildings can be rebuilt;
over time a heart once broken can be mended, if not forgotten;
the death of one star will one day help and give rise to the birth of another-
life goes on and only in one direction,
we must embrace everything, and learn from every stutter.

Everything shines for a short time;
when we are born we are truly free to be and to do anything,
without a name, a past, or expectations;
but as we grow with the world everything changes,
and the choices of our lives become the stars of our constellations.