Jackanape

Jackanape, drifting through the streets
A broken mind torn by time
"Heretic" the townsfolk cry 
Thrusting abuse in his path 
Beleaguered and beaten 
He wanders on 
The zephyr calling his name 
Haunted by the fallacy of his past 
Only one bibelot of of truth 
Lingering in his mind 

28.12.60

Sheltered under the cloak
Of a book 
Physics probably
Not one to dabble in creativity 
He claims
With a violin perched at his side

My poetic acquaintance
With the pen at his lips 
Pressing glass eyes to paper words
"Meaningless drivel" 
He claims 
As he eagerly turns to the next page

Glass stars and crystal moons
Tiptoeing over time and space
Round his head and onto his page
Misunderstood 
He claims 
As he hides for another day 

I picked a random book from my school library and looked at the library card in the front, I chose a random name from the small list of people who had borrowed it and wrote a poem about the type of person who I imagined them to be. 
The boy had borrowed the poetry book on the 28th December 1960, I imagined him to be smart and have a passion for science but have a hidden creative flair that he tries to keep hidden from the world.

Honour

A badge of pride tis honour
Who chose you?
Be it the coward in the corner
Trembling with fear
Hath he no honour?
Or that cold blooded killer
With the smirk across his cheeks
And the blade between his claws
Hath he no honour either?

To judge and to be judged 
You have no right
But hath you the right
To love and to be loved  
For who you are
Yes
For you are honour 

Wear it upon your sleeve 
Across your heart
And in your head
Pray it never leaves
And he will never leave

A poem inspired by Falstaff's monologue during act 5 scene 1 of the Shakespeare play Henry IV (Part 1) the monologue reads 
"Honour pricks me on. Yea, but how if honour prick me off when I come on? how then? Can honour set to a leg? no: or an arm? no: or take away the grief of a wound? no. Honour hath no skill in surgery, then? no. What is honour? a word. What is in that word honour? what is that honour? air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? he that died o’ Wednesday. Doth he feel it? no. Doth he hear it? no. ‘Tis insensible, then. Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with the living? no. Why? detraction will not suffer it. Therefore I’ll none of it. Honour is a mere scutcheon: and so ends my catechism."

During his monologue the lovable coward Falstaff explores the idea of honour and what it is, for he is not an honourable solider and cowers at the thought of battle. In my response I debate who it is who chooses whether we wear the metaphorical badge of honour and what the meaning of the word is.

Perpetual Tides

Roll over with the stormy seas
And time forgotten sands
Hearts wash up 
And wander through 
With bleeding red passion 
Flickering on and off 
Through the hollow duskhouse
A fragile moment 
Stolen and gone
By a crystal eyed stalker 
Bearing nothing but his heart
And a single dead flower

I was given a task to write a poem including a set of words, I was assigned the words: sea, red, duskhouse, crystal, stalker and flower. A nice set of words actually that made me think about about the way love comes and goes like the tide.However there is always one person who, like the sea, we cannot hold onto, in this case the "stalker" loves a girl so much that he sits day in day out watching lovers come and go with the sea, awaiting the return of his one true love.

I covet

I covet
To pour into your arms
To feel the heat of your breath trembling across my skin
To edure the sound of your voice with its shallow hushed tones
Echoing through my skull

I covet
To entwine my soul within yours
And feel the sharp rise and fall of your chest with mine
To feel our clumsy fingers stumbling over untouched skin
With a perpetual yearning

I covet
To stumble over long goodbyes
And feel your arms release me for the last time
To scream your name and cry your tears
With my recalcitrant heart

I covet 
To never release your hand
To find you when your heart is lost 
And endear your every breath 

I covet

A poem inspired partly by a beautiful song by Christina Perry called The Lonely, and partly by the passionate relationship shared between Cam and Lilith in the Fallen series by Lauren Kate. I also took inspiration from the film The Deep Blue Sea. I wanted to expand on the feeling of longing, to love someone with such strong intensity and to experience the feeling of true love. 

Bitter Broken Heart

If at any moment
Your heart may utter my name
Silence it
Tear its words from your chest
And banish them
From your thoughts

Run a silver dagger
Along your lips
To stain her lips
As you tainted mine

Slip a sinful poison
Into your drink
And whither a slow
And painful heartache

May your suffering soul
Cry out in pain
A Sorrow filled scream
Strangled by my lust for you

Inspired by the poem Havisham by Carol Ann Duffy, I explored the feelings of heartache and envy, telling the tale of a girl who's heart has been shattered to many times to ever recover.

Where We Were

If
You should ever
Need: a friend,
A sister
Or a stranger
To listen
To your thoughts
When you're: frightened,
Worried
Or Lonely 
I'll be there
I'll be where 
I always was
And where we used to be

Just a short poem, inspired by the poem If I Should Die Before You Do by Richard Brautigan, I was intrigued by the structure of his poetry and thought it would be fun to try and mimic this style. His work appears to flow in a rigid way like human speech, stumbling through the words as if the reader is almost afraid of what they are saying.