Hangman - VII

Words crumbled like biscuit
in your mouth, plastering
you with dust that made you sick
of yourself. You are ready
for the rope, wishing
they were yellow ribbons instead.

Hangman - VI

You moved up the platform
barefooted, hands behind your back,
lips cracked, eyes cast down,
fishing for a response.
With each alphabet you moved
closer to the noose.

Hangman - V

You geared up to touch her
with your existence and waited
like a lighted matchstick
for its fire to be extinguished
but your presence was an illusion
gone wrong. You fret about the end.

Hangman - IV

Your thoughts raced on a track
of doubts like a horse tied
to the starting gate when the start
was never in sight. You packed
your words and warmed
the engine for the journey
home to finish the game
you wished to win.

Hangman - III

You scribbled words on paper
like spreading jam on bread
and bit the eraser off
your pencil like biting
into bacon bits. You wished
you had tea leaves in your coffee
so you could see the hope
you'll need to butter up the void.

Hangman - II

You filled each free moment
sipping her like coffee
and capturing her
movements to savour
when you are deprived
of her distractions.

Hangman - I

The doodle on the paper
stood up to stare at you
as you tried to ignore
the kisses of her breath
when she shifted in her chair
at the desk next to yours.

Honey, do you love me? - VII

Crush is playing on the radio
as we feel the rush and small talk
becomes mountain climbing.
We inch a little closer
to the top and rejoice
with each victory, careful
that a misplaced foot
will not send us tumbling
back to our hypnotised state
where the sun is never orange.

Honey, do you love me? V

He walks in and charges
the room with his presence,
then morph into a chameleon
and blends in with the chair.
He waits
like an audience in an opera
for his starlet to hit the right note
before he stands in ovation.

Honey, do you love me? - IV

I do not mind that the sky is blue
or the sun, a bright orange.
I do not mind that we cannot see air
or touch the waves of light.
I do not mind the power we cannot see,
the gravity sucking our feet.
I do not mind that you stand close,
it feels just so good,
just so we can be together
like two Mandarin Ducks

Honey, do you love me? - III

When she thought her game was over
her voice hung in hysteria
like grey clouds on a stormy day.
She sought ransom from her friend
and held her gift of sunlight
against her bosom, tight and tied
to their sanity, waiting for it to curl
her tongue and heal her voice again.

Honey, do you love me? - II

She waits like an aspiring actress
at a line-up, waiting to be picked
for an audition, waiting
to be the star of the show.
She hawks you as you whirl
around like a revolving door,
not sure where you were going.
We watch as you wait
for the panes to smack you
and catch you in between them
before you will wake and walk again.

Honey, do you love me? - I

She donned new hair curled
in bounces like wigs on mannequins,
and shed her skin like seasons in transition.
She embraced their colours, each a day.
Sunlight blouse and coloured bra
was a favourite theme. She thought
looking like someone from Desparate Housewives
was a compliment and when a friend
said it was too much show
she said she did not mind
and continued changing seasons.

Hide And Seek VII

You will scratch yourself as you fall
on the sharp edges of tongues
if you don’t heed the whispers around you
and stop the walk on the plank. It’s not worth
the splashes of colours that will smear
the white of your shirt. Withdraw and listen
to the calls of your friends and see
their silent gestures wishing to wrap
you in bubbles for storage until sunlight breaks
the winter in your head again.
You need not be bloody nor your world, red.

Hide And SeeK VI

She finally broke into your world
like a piece of glass, sharp edged
but bearing a sweet wine.
Your boldness brought you closer
to her and you dreamed that soon
you would share your sandwich with her.
You struggled not to be twelve again
as you swallowed her concern for you
like a spoonful of cherry cough syrup,
while the one with the arrow woke up
when she saw how you kissed
the ornament with your eyes.

Hide And Seek V

She missed your catwalk
and meerkat pose so she whined
about her work and sighed
about the lights and irritated
everyone within her sight.
When we walked by, you stooped
to kiss your desk. She kicked
a fuss when we were back at our desks,
the lights were too white, the floor
was too hard and the air, too cold.
With your arrow in her heart
she walked the office, killing
everything that battled an eye.

Hide And Seek - IV

Telephone rang, keyboard dit dit ditting,
printer vomited paper after paper,
rain washed off footprints from the catwalk
and minds paused to re-assess the puzzle,
counting the sides to the polygon.
Gloom invaded the office like a virus
and people, hiding their cough, examined
the future like a specimen,
I wait like a candle in the mist
for the rain to stop and I can see
who will pass the light through the prism.

Hide And Seek III

She, my good friend, drooled
at me like I was her lover, hoping
that you would walk by and see
how she could be your lover.
When you were tired of walking
you poised yourself behind the cabinet
like a meerkat on the lookout,
hiding and seeking, seeking and hiding.
But you didn’t see the female
leopard stalking you by the side.

Hide And Seek II

You walked by and she teased you about smiling
to yourself again. She thought you were smiling
at her as as your smile turned into a grin
and you made a funny face, hiding a crush.
She asked you what you ate at lunch
and you replied in a riddle. While she pondered,
I answered but you did not look at me.
She bounced back with a riddle and I pretended
to read the newspaper. I understood
but you didn’t, just like she didn’t.
Eeny Meeny Miney Mo

Hide And Seek - I

You turn your trip to the filing room into a catwalk
to show your flair and hope that you will chance
upon the glass ornament by my desk.
You make it hold on to wisps of your presence,
hope that you will stop the hide and seek
and hold it in your hands to feel the return
of its warmth. You smile to yourself
as if it can see you from the side
or the back of its head, while another imagines
you are smiling at her and she follows
you to where she thinks you are leading her,
a dream that the ornament is her.