If sound grew tired

(Ballad/Common Metre form)

If sound grew tired, and we could ask
the din of life to fade,
what noise would be the first to break
the solitude we made?
When faced with multitudes of voice,
a dampened wall of sound,
the pen-clicks and the paper-storms
can easily get drowned.
If you could shutter off your ears
and narrow down to one,
which note would you prefer to stay
when all the rest were gone?
Id make a case for pushing down
a new piano key,
perhaps a ripping envelope
or gently hushing sea.
But what could beat the hummingbird,
or popping, rustling fire?
The tingling, crackling, perfect hiss
of rain upon the wire?
But still the only sound I hear
suspended in my mind
is how, as you stepped in my house
the door clicked shut behind.

Grumpy Sleeper
(Heroic Couplets)
Sometimes, when I am struggling to sleep,
and irritations slowly start to creep
Into my head, I turn and try to take
some warmth from you and accidentally wake
you up. And you would surely think that this
would not prevent a cuddle or a kiss.
But when you wake, I find without exception
that you do not give me a fond reception.
No, rather than a loving, warm embrace
I find hostility more commonplace.
A groan, a shrug, Dont lie so close to me
you grumble, with no trace of sympathy,
or sometimes wake with shock, a sudden yell,
or move away as if my love repels
you, like I smell well, thanks a lot for that.
Why do you always act like such a brat
when sleepy? Is there something in your brain
that makes you so alarmed? Are you in pain?
Or is it me, am I somehow to blame?
Are you expecting me to kill or maim?
Or is my hug a message to decode,
and if you fail, the world will now implode?
Youre actually James Bond and now the fate
of everyone depends on you, the bait:
A hug, you must resist, do not give in!
A love grenade, do not remove the pin!
Well, heres the thing, youre not a super spy.
Youre just a normal, hairy, stinky guy.
And if youre smart youll fast appreciate
That getting hugs at all is pretty great!

Youth to Age

(Shakespearean Sonnet)
I know whats new to me is old for you,
I know you think youve seen it all before,
but weary eyes may miss a thing or two,
cant there be even one surprise in store?
Old is not a substitute for right
and wisdom doesnt always come with age.
When ancient history stifles every fight
your past is not a keyhole, its a cage.
How dare you be so certain? Its this grim
assurance I cant bear, why cant you see
that if you wallow in this fog of dim
self-satisfaction, youll lose sight of me?
When you awake, alone, proved right again,
what will precious experience be worth then?

Unspoken
(Blank verse, iambic pentameter)

And then you turn around and suddenly

I am confronted unsure, half-afraid,
and half-defiant. Then the tingles spread,
as if a billion bubbles burst inside
my veins, and one by one ignite my skin,
until my whole complexion is on fire.
What is this feeling called? I cant describe it:
regret, hate, fear, excitement, none at all
a numbness and a smarting and an edge
where all these feelings run. Alarm emerges
and brings up words, apologies which die
before they even come, as you reject them
with just a lookbut then a single sign,
the hardness in your mouth alleviates
and hope returns. I know one shift, one small
expression now could be the drop of hope
that turns the tide. I smile. It hangs between
our bodies like an olive branch. One more
split second where I doubt, but then you place
your hand in mine, and faith replaces fear.
We are attuned, it is alright again.
I see you, and I know you feel the same.
But still some things are better left unsaid.

Love Story
(Vilanelle)
It really doesnt matter what you say

the irritating boy said, with a grin,

I love you and Ill never go away.
He teased me on the school bus, everyday
the words began to get under my skin.
It really doesnt matter what you say
he said, Cos here I am, and here Ill stay.
and slowly something started to begin.
I love you and Ill never go away
was whispered lovingly, not just in play sometimes we faltered, nearly packed it in,
It really doesnt matter what you say!
Im leaving! we would yell, but then always
repent, and rashly vow, Never again,
I love you, and Ill never go away.
And even now that you are old and grey,
I look at you and know, through thick or thin,
It really doesnt matter what you say,
I love you, that will never go away.

Campus
(Anapestic)
As I walk past the towers I gradually see
the whole campus beginning to turn

from a place where I knew that I wanted to be,

from a place where I hungered to learn,
to a grey barred bastille where I cannot be free,
to a land where there is no return.
For as much as I want to go home for a spell
there are voices I cannot dismiss;
They pull and they push, they plead and impel,
they whisper and murmur and hiss
and then louder and louder the sound starts to swell
til Im falling into the abyss
where all of the pressures of money, and chores,
start to whirl like banshees through my brain.
As I sink into shadows the landscape extends
To a vast and immutable plane,
Full of limitless essays that all start to blend,
And Im sure that Im going insane.
Then a hand on my arm pulls me out of this scene,
with a smile and a sociable pat,
and somebody offers me precious caffeine,
and I know almost instantly that
regardless how hard, well get through it between
us, with oodles of coffee and chat.

Undercover
(Syllabic, seven syllable lines.)
I wake, and before I can

really think, I burrow back

into the pillows, I hide
in covers. There is a lack
I sense on the other side
of the mattress. But I try
to block the thought with blankets,
smother with comfort. No use.
No matter what I try, warmth
escapes me. No matter how
much I rest, peace eludes me.
The feeling drips away. Numb
limbs frozen. Like suspended
animation. This is a
hibernation, but one where
the cold still intrudes until
I can no longer ignore
the chill of absence. You must
return. Without you, there is
no pattern, it all merges.
The days pass. Will you return?
I hide, I burrow, I dig,
cocooned inside apathy.
I am more than this! Come back
to me! I thought I was done
with waiting. I want to break
out of here. Come back to me
so I can be touched by your
warmth, and start to grow again.

Without You
(Free Verse)
Without you
my fingers have to silently
trace, there is no sound but my heart strings
jangle. I strive to
hear but my inner chords are

out of tune, the notes are

flat and lifeless.
The hammers are
missing their mark.
I am missing the
key. I long for
resistance. I ache
to exert pressure.
I am tingling with the
ghostly resonance in this
empty room.
Dreaming
vibrations.
Imagining the warmth and smoothness of
your surface.
Lifting the lid.
Feeling for those steel lines
within. So solid
but only weakly held.
I am grabbing, clinging,
it slips away.
My piano.