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20x28cm (8×11″) Hardcover gloss print, perfect for resisting tea or coffee stains đ.
Category: Collaboration
The Lesser of Two Evils
This is the recent collaboration with Benjamin Grossman which helped me greatly in breaking my writing ‘numbness’. Please check out Ben’s blog if you have not already read his amazing work.Â
The glacial battle begins in our heads
Face pressed to the sun-pierced windowpane
January snow in recession, the signs of regressionÂ
Half hidden like an iceberg in the arctic waterÂ
And where once a soft glow illuminated the surfaceÂ
Only the placement of desolation remains
Reverberating silent screamsÂ
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There is no one way of knowing cold
The stages are fluid and transient
Its meaning bitterly ambiguousÂ
Yet in rare lucid moments, I see husks
An empty bed, scarred skin, chattered teeth
Spirit-numbed mind, missed meals, vacant smiles
There is no one way of knowing cold
Its symptoms appear to have no rhyme or reason
Although they move with wintry doom
From person to person increasing in aggressionÂ
Till you understand the meaning of icy
Which unbeknownst to us creeps in successionÂ
There is no one way of knowing coldÂ
Though maybe itâs always the same
Emotional and physical reactionÂ
A state of feeling dangerously low
Struggling to survive between cold and colder
The very same polar opposites: Arctic and Antarctica
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Tasteless
This is a collaboration piece with Spirited Soul based on a Poetic Duets Prompt – “Pick any of the 5 senses. Now, imagine your life without it, and describe it poetically.” This prompt came from Instagram @PoeticDuets
Beautiful green and orange chunks weaved through the spongy dough.
Aromatic toasted nuts gave that firm structure
like the solid brick work in an architecture piece.
When the baking oven timer went off like a diner bell,
my nose was overwhelmed by the healthy wholesomeness.
My mouth salivated in great anticipation.
As I slide the fork from in between my lustrous lips,
I feel the thick, coarse lump in my mouth.
Swirling around like dry sand when I chew.
Feeling like a handful of moving bugs as I try to swallow.
The kind that land inside your mouth after an enjoyable motorbike ride.
Ocean Spring
A Collaboration of Cassa and Lucy
dark clouds gather overhead as the rolling thunder
sets my soul on fire
lightning brings about the sparkÂ
I longed to ignite our flameÂ
overflowing in the depths of my tempestuous heartÂ
my inner sense of desire
yearning for the calm waves to wash over meÂ
ever so gentle rhythmic in unison with my heart beat
the lull of your breathing brings aboutÂ
a peaceful and serene plateau of joyous abandonmentÂ
your voice, so quiet and sublime
echos in the distance far from silent ears
nothing measures up to the peace you grant me
the gentle trickle spring you let inÂ
in painstaking patience
nourishes my weathered heart
unbeknown to you
the frozen particles in my being thaw in your presence
you are the heart and soul of my universeÂ
your spring overflows my cupÂ
Overambitious Love
A collaboration with Benjamin Grossman https://benjamin-grossman.com
Her emerald beauty circled his upright being
She stretched her sublime allure to capture the snow
He felt the weight in totality
It exceeded what he could possibly endure
Most days there was a smokey haze between them
And this fog formed uneven walls
With tiny openings just wide enough
To let toxic fumes leak through
In desperation,
she let out her slow poison
He turned himself inside out to survive
But was never the same man as before
Nor she the same woman
They had interwoven
like a tree wrapped in vines
They wanted to thrive under any conditions
Thatâs what all lovers long to do
Tragically they couldnât harness the moonlight
Nor grow within the embers of dying flames
50 Shades of Darkness
A collaboration with Instagram Poetess @twinksfly
Do check out her work, amazing talent!
The fossil site was burnt to charcoal long ago
The remain of tar grease smells leathery
Sable branches drape off the ebony
The jet black raven croaks at the inky cloud
Furry spiders find their way into the midnight hollow
Standing tall amongst the ashes – of the dense foliage
That once breathe life, I stare at the smoldering ruin
With ebony flush under solar flashes, from winds that blew hard
The charred skeleton of a home, by standing, barbequing beams’ brewing
The warm evenings where crickets hovered, as the sun set
The ironbark veranda, where the kids giggled, has become a fret
Bush by bush, the fire swept, up to the garden fence
Up to the now charcoal front door, in her embrace I cense
The scent which bloomed through the air from roses red
When the delicate petals danced gaily soaking garden with vibrant colors
Now a tombless tombstone festooned by the wreath of flesh red
Lay witness with a heavy aroma of death of the dreadful summer
And my gaze walks through the charred husk that once was a car
As I remember the loud inferno, overwhelming senses, from afar
Wondering where was a freight train running at this hour
Knowing even if it was by the lake’s edge, it would become char
Every morning, with sun’s first ray, I look at the calves playing on the rubble and say
As the flaring tragedies trail throttles the screams frail
I stand still, a mute spectator of the worst-case scenario of when forecasts fail
It’s going to come again, the skies are still gray, are you counting the day
Furry spiders find their way into the midnight hollow
As the jet black raven croaks at the inky cloud
And sable branches drape off the ebony
While the remains of tar grease smell leathery
This fossil site was burnt to charcoal long ago
Childhood
I remember those fun beach afternoons
We bathed in the gossamer autumn sun
Daddy’s shoulders were the mountains we climbed
Mummy’s arms were the swing we clung to
The secluded Clovelly echoed the wonderful childhood
which we locked away in our fond memory
Painting by Virginia Bucknell
you may see more of Virginia’s paintings via: Art Lovers Australia  Weebly  Instagram
Rush
looking out the train window
I feel the same rush of time and space
wheaten open plains move like weeping willows in the wind
lines of oil rich Eucalyptus trees casting elongated shadows on the land
the blue haze mountain backdrop vanishes into the distant clouds
they charge all at once to meet my eyes
too overwhelmed to take them in frame by frame
I feel the sudden nostalgia of old black and white flicks
Painting by Virginia Bucknell
you may see more of Virginia’s paintings via: Art Lovers Australia Weebly Instagram
Surviving and Thriving
it is the rest period of the day without noisy food fight
the tide takes away young crabs and small fish
the gulls know of their faithful return tomorrow
one sings, another cruises, and the other grooms,
so relaxing and carefree
they are satisfied with todayâs offering
thriving in a densely packed colony
Painting by Virginia Bucknell
you may see more of Virginia’s paintings via: Art Lovers Australia Weebly Instagram
Choice
tread upon unknown ground
where thorn never grows
and the thistle never springs up
my instinct tells me
to follow the guiding light
narrow is the way to paradise
Painting by Virginia Bucknell
you may see more of Virginia’s paintings via: Art Lovers Australia Weebly Instagram