Life comes in a whisper

Traipsing around the flat

Coffee in hand

I scuff my foot

And set off the trill rattle of a nursery rhyme

contained in the garish plastic of another toy strewn

across the floor

I pause.

I sit down

I have just stumbled across a relatable moment.

I think of all those who have gone before me

Who have negotiated similar territory

 

I reflect on last night when I watched them sleep

It had occurred to me then

The multitude of mysteries a baby contains

That we all are, ultimately unknown

Despite the thousand intimacies that surrounded us

as we grew

Our parents never fully held the all of us

Or mapped the landscape of our minds

Some secrets remain

Between the smiles and knowing eyes.

 

Only the source of all knows us inside out

As I gazed upon my child in wonder

And thought how precious

How unutterably precious

I gained a new sense of being held

Of despite my own loneliness

Despite the relentless expeditions into my own brain

Somehow all is contained

Accounted for

And honoured

I have always been deeply known.

 

Before me now

This fresh being

Holds so much

And is loved beyond my own limitations

A core of love

Bundled up in that soft flesh

Coiled, life sprung and

Still springing forth

Daily

Last orders

This is the end of a massive bender

The sun is up on our excess

We can’t stand up any longer

We have not talked straight for thirty years or so

Since the active perversion of science and policy

Walking? that went awry on our way to howl at the moon

Now a sludgy substance lines our stomachs and the bottom of discarded barrels

Scattered in disarray they litter the scene like death stars

 

What happened last night?

Did you get their number?

All I remember is hiding in a graveyard from the police

We fell asleep, heads on the tombstone of an elder

That’s where I had that dream

Imagined it all

Underground

Death upon death

Bidding time

Under heat and pressure

The goodness of life consolidates

Waited to give its energy through fire

A huge power we couldn’t wield

Our demise rushing towards us in exponential acceleration

 

Back in that bar

Another slick suited man tried to whisper to me over the noise

I remember his smoking languor and rank breath

He slurred something about how we get through 100 billion barrels a day

So we must need him

Enthralled to massive macho money

We grease their loins for them

And watch them thrust into natures harmony

Watch them oil the machinery of war

Spill their filth over everything

Compromise the very water of this world

Our life blood

A toxic grip constricts every dam breath we take

It is right in there clutching at our lungs

And we long for a perfect world

Hardly

Just a liveable one

 

Thinking about our next fix even as we downed what was in reach

We can’t conceal this addiction in a paper bag

Its bursting out the seams of our world

We can’t keep lying

Or pretending

We have to raise our heads

Imagine at new heights

Say yes to the other ways

Get up

Cope with the hangover and tidy up

And this is where I completely break down with the analogy

Millions around the world suffering as I write

Too soon the normal human experience will be one of

Displacement

Thirst

Heat exhaustion

Violence and death  

We have to stop oil

And embrace a new day 

Humus Words

Deep the humus words that seek essential sense

Your dark riches evade language

Lock in meaning with nutrients

Pierce the faded flesh of thought

Write hope on the taut wings of a moth

Stretch human longing over the bark of a tree

Reveal the fissures and burs of ancient knowing

A Knowing before knowledge

A being that we see with the heart

 

Tears track the violence of a face

I am mindful of the many stumps

Of the slashed at and burnt

We have not always worn a mask of greed

Veins that carry sap for healing

Reach to redeem what has been lost

Right relationship, some seamless way

Decay the siren call of life renewed

Underground though not forgotten