Category: Poetry

haiku, Mental Health, Poetry, Writing13 Comments

Haiku Friday. Anxiety. A Haiku Trilogy.

Laidback DM

Anxiety. A haiku trilogy. 1. Harbinger Tingling on your skin, harbinger of darker things. The skies open wide. 2. Run Run while you still can, ‘fore this acid rain melts you. Too much weight to bear. 3. Hide You can’t hide from this. A pall hangs over you that doggedly consumes. I suffer from anxiety, but manage it much more effectively now than I did a few years ago. These haikus are for all the anxiety sufferers out there. Stay strong Steve 🙂 My first book of poetry, The All or the Nothing, is available now as an e-book from … Continue reading Haiku Friday. Anxiety. A Haiku Trilogy.

Love, Poetry, Writing9 Comments

My Trajectory. A poem.

Laidback DM

My trajectory: sometimes straight and narrow, sometimes a drunk man attempting to walk a straight line, while the cop just rolls his eyes. My trajectory: never in doubt, sometimes questioning. A walk through a dark forest, as the furry eaves and murky weave close off any chance of escape. Clearer in hindsight, never misplaced. God-given, forthright and true. My trajectory: is you. Continue reading My Trajectory. A poem.

Dating, Poetry, Writing6 Comments

Chat(less). A poem.

Laidback DM

Fractious conversations; half-hearted, lip synced. Frantic fingers tracing familiar paths, back and forth across time and space. How much longer until each gives in, or gives up? Until the melodrama unfolds, like poorly crafted origami and becomes a crumpled paper crane. Aimless fingers tap dance, until the music ends. You need to be somewhere else, other than your own space and time. Stop typing! Feel the breeze on your face. The world awaits. Continue reading Chat(less). A poem.

Mental Health, Poetry, Writing65 Comments

Tired. A poem.

Laidback DM

I’m tired. And my drifting aimless gaze settles on a distant mist-like haze that wells up continuously inside, like savage, misplaced pride, and makes me drop like a stone into waters unknown. Lost on cruel tides that wend the capitulating ocean to its end. So tired. If only sleep could solve this quandary, instead of leaving me on the periphery of a world that spins aimlessly, through head space and trickery, and leaves me wanting nothing less. And nothing more. Just tired. Time to leave this place. Steve is a literal starving artist. Please keep the dream of poetry alive … Continue reading Tired. A poem.

Love, Poetry, Writing10 Comments

The Stand. A poem.

Laidback DM

Just one tiny moment of her time. Just one glint in her eye. Did she look my way? Is she thinking about me? A lifetime of insecurities, rearing like some untamed bronco, kicking my ass before I’ve a chance to tango. And now, here I am, stupefied and indignant, wondering what do I do to impress her next? Maybe I could put myself down again, or perhaps be less vexed. Or maybe I could just retreat with my tail between my legs. No. Not this time. Time to make a stand. Let me just catch my breath, pull on the … Continue reading The Stand. A poem.

Love, Poetry, Writing16 Comments

Phantom Limb. A poem.

Laidback DM

I’m forever haunted by this phantom limb, writhing in my sleep, guilt stricken for my sins. I see you in every couple on the street, and at the coffee shop, where we drank each other in. It feels like you’re still across from me; the conversation, imagined and forlorn, accusing eyes that follow me no more. Your ghost absorbs my days and nights, a peripheral blur, just out of sight. Time heals all wounds; such perfect sense, but not in my experience. You’re the limb I lost, that still persists. A phantom limb, my will insists. Continue reading Phantom Limb. A poem.

Fatherhood, Mental Health, Poetry, Writing11 Comments

Through His Eyes. A poem.

Laidback DM

See the world. But not through your own eyes. Try his. Try seeing and yet not seeing, failing to understand what they truly perceive. Messed up signals, like a traffic jam waiting to happen. Open your mouth, like his mouth, and watch the words tumble out: unannounced, tactless and indiscreet; a crossword of errors on a big broadsheet. Walk alone, not by yourself, but like him: truly alone, like the world has eaten you up and spat you out. Deserted, when you truly needed love instead of doubt. This is how he feels. So extend a hand. Feel with him. … Continue reading Through His Eyes. A poem.

Love, Poetry, Writing42 Comments

Heartbreak. A prose poem.

Laidback DM

My heart was broken, and the pieces lay scattered across the floor like so much fractured crystal. It lay where it fell for days, weeks, months. I fixated on my shattered heart for a long time. Everywhere I looked, everywhere I walked, I was in danger of cutting myself on a fragment. Visitors and friends stepped delicately around the shards like navigating a minefield. Every once in a while I would think about tidying up. But the strewn slivers were a reminder both comforting and saddening. One day, I awoke to find the pieces were gone, as if they had … Continue reading Heartbreak. A prose poem.

haiku, humour, Poetry, WritingLeave a comment

Haiku Friday. Three freaky haikus.

Laidback DM

Message I got a message, anonymous, confusing. “Don’t wait up,” it said. Nerd Glasses, weird hair cut, quirky disregard for all. “Grab a seat, player!” Dog All dogs love me so. Must be my cool aftershave. Or meat in pocket. . Haikus, those wonderful little 5/7/5 syllable Japanese poems, are usually serious. I decided serious is not for me, today. Cheers Steve 🙂 Continue reading Haiku Friday. Three freaky haikus.

Mental Health, Poetry, Writing8 Comments

Dead Men Deep. A poem.

Laidback DM

Hulls of broken ships, scattered like white noise. The sea bed, as black as a charcoal cellar. It welcomes sailors to their ends, bloated corpses sleeping in hammocks of crusted ribs, drunk on briny, antique wine. Coral wreaths and sawdust mouths; barnacles, the new tattoo that marks the passage from man to martyr. Here among the starfish and crustacean shells, unworried by the weather, seabed tales in whale song punctuate their empty dreams. Continue reading Dead Men Deep. A poem.

Mental Health, Poetry, Writing9 Comments

City of the Lost. A poem.

Laidback DM

I looked to the city. The lights were on, but nobody was home. I was alone. I expected dust devils to whirl as I walked through my world. Behind every door a Marie Celeste, of empty chairs and still full plates. Always alone. Wherever I looked reigned emptiness, yesterday’s news and mild distress. The dust and dirt of memories clung to my walls like tragedy. And then the lights went out. That was when I knew, without a doubt: I would always be alone. But what was always there, that I just couldn’t see, were all the souls surrounding me. Continue reading City of the Lost. A poem.