Find the courage to move your lips and and say hello
Embarrassment can be forgotten or laughed about
Regrets lead to a lifetime of misery and woe

Wipe the fear from your forehead and emerge from your shadow
Formulate words to woo but don’t whisper or shout
Find the courage to move your lips and say hello

Smile and breathe, be simple and don’t read a manifesto
Fears of insecurity or failure are not a reason to bail out
Regrets lead to a lifetime of misery and woe

Trust yourself and be honest; ignore the status quo
Perfection is an illusion not a reason to be devout
Find the courage to move your lips and say hello

Rejection can better than being always being solo
Failure can be learned from, inaction breeds doubt
Regrets lead to a lifetime of misery and woe

Be brave today and enjoy a different tomorrow
Risk normalcy for something unexpected
Find the courage to move your lips and say hello
Regrets lead to a lifetime of misery and woe

No warning it gave
Like lightning it fell
One foot in the grave
And soon I could tell

The strike uncommon
The sting much more so
Though I had gotten
No doubt a worse blow

The problem the male
A brother of mine
Had swung without fail
With hatred in mind

Already a grudge
Was on my wry face
For I would not budge
Without vengeance in place

I raised mine own hand
The target was clear
He would not withstand
A blow to the rear

my name was coated in the huskiness of his voice,

the pervasive drumming in my heart echoed into my skull.

dragging my feet across the room,

while drowning in the dusk of their silence.

thumb pacing across the plump tips of my trembling fingers,

one-two-three-four, four-three-two-one, repeat.

my clammy hands sliding along the seams wrapped around my thighs,

as my body weighs down on the frontline,

before their darting eyes.

i detached from my act as a cat on a hot tin roof.

a wooden cottage weathered pastel blue

on that rocky beach, speckled with sea glass.

light filters through the pines over my head,

a patchwork, shades of brown upon my skin.

a loon calls, no answer, only echoes

carried ‘cross the bay by an ocean breeze.

above high tide wild flowers spring to life

as the smells of moss and salt fill my lungs.

I close my eyes, remember summers past.

the crashing waves, the soundtrack of my youth.

Walk through the blue front door, calm but nervous

Blinding white suits and walls torture my eyes

Eyes which burn and struggle to stay open 

The thick smell of shit overwhelms my nose

Nose so stuffed I’m surprised I can smell

Warm humid air lifts the skin off my bones

Skin, covered in picked scabs and track marks

And bones still aching from my concrete bed

I put on the rough and itchy jumpsuit

With eyes closed, travel the world again

There’s a village in Fiji where the cattle roam free and the boys scamper about without shoes
The river runs long and the wells run deep and the Fiji parrotfinch sings the blues
A family of eight all in one hut warm themselves by the fire
Little brown hands crowd around the sparks as the black smoke ring rises higher
Their little muddy feet dance and prance as aprils warm rain descends
The sun rises over the sea and the waves attack the shore, sunsets and again they make amends
The youngest boy in the brown round hut is called “Baboo” for baby
His tummy sticks out under is stained white shirt, his hair sticks up like crazy
Baboo and his brothers bathe in the clear water of the stream
as fish swim past their legs they holler skip and scream
Baboo and his brothers brush their teeth with twigs from the twisted tree
They ride bareback on bounding mules racing towards the sea
Their laughter rings across the town
They’ve been lost but always found
Through the village streets they rome
Viti Levu will always be home
Baboo grew up and had a daughter and that daughter is me
No matter where life takes him now he’ll remember the twisted tree

You’ve thrown my heart into the fire
But it’s too strong to burn out from the flame
This still doesn’t feel real, I think you are a liar

Everything was fine one day
Now it has all seemed to change
But it’s too strong to burn out from the flame

I’m in the clouds thinking of all the ways
To make you crawl back to me
But you’ve thrown my heart into the fire

I know we should move on
You think that it’s right
But it’s too strong to burn out from the flame

You’ve been gone for a week
You’re stuck in my brain
And it’s too strong to burn out from the flame

You’ve thrown my heart into the fire
But it’s too strong to burn out from the flame
The clouds bring down the rain
To heal my heart once again

“Absence”

I sit here with someone,

Absent of your kind.

I try to leave,

I try to go home,

But I don’t want to leave alone.

All of the weeks that turned into months,

So much time spent together,

It all went to become rust.

If you asked for a story,

Not one of them would be about us.

When that gentle caress

Turned into a hit

I wondered

Was this love really worth it

Was I really worthy of that sweet lovin

Like my momma said

But I guess I’ll never be able to give you an answer

Because I’m already dead