POETRY

My work has taken a minimalist turn, and I’m learning to say more with less. It allows you, the reader, to fill in your own blanks. Through these pieces, I pour my heart out, poke fun, and have a good time. I hope you enjoy exploring these works as much as I enjoyed creating them.

ROUGH DRAFT

A PREVIEW OF A POETRY BOOK I'M WORKING ON

This collection began quietly, just a few words at a time, an attempt to trace the soft echoes of a voice I thought I’d lost. Each poem is a step inward, toward the child I once was, and outward, toward the healing that still unfolds.

These are not polished declarations. They’re fragments, reflections, and raw-boned truths about pain, tenderness, and the long, strange road to becoming whole.

Whether this ever becomes a finished book, I wanted to share these early pieces as a glimpse into that journey. If you find something of yourself in them, then perhaps that’s enough for now.

00

I remember asking questions

Where were you today?

The answers always empty

The silence seemed to stay

I don't remember overtime

I don't remember study

I remember feeling

The hunger in my tummy

I don't recall the savings

Nor the bills to pay

I remember you being too tired

To take me out to play

I don't remember singing

Nor do I remember fun and games

I remember you were drinking

In a stupor and a haze

You were counting figures

What were you supposed to do?

Whilst I would burn out birthday candles

Waiting here for you

I wonder if you see me now

Through time's relentless view

If the child who only wanted you

Could forgive the things you knew

01

I’m out of bed once again,

Shadows grow as you stand tall

I’m sorry that I look like him—

I am a baby, after all.

04

We're supposed to open eggshells,

The home where life begins.

It's a prison for my tip toes.

06

Just make it till Thursday.

Time crawls like syrup in the cold,

A hand wringing my stomach,

Softly laughing as I fold.

I sleep. I game. I dream of cake.

The silence never breaks.

I tell myself, at ten years old,

I should do better,

But I don’t.

10

john and I spent summers

lost in battlefront

crushing on The Veronicas

because we didn't know any better

when we talked about the future

we spoke in half dreams

nothing would ever change

but we didn't know it yet

The world was growing up with us

14

There be demons here,

When I went from boy to man,

A voice that slightly whispered,

Confused and made demands.

It stuck to me like second skin,

A weight I couldn’t shake,

I struggled to fall asleep at night,

And in the morn, I could not wake.

It stole from me my language,

Rattled up my thoughts,

It stole from me reality,

Twisting what I’d sought.

I became so used to it,

So used, I could not see

That this new face in the mirror

Was anyone but me

I used to be so innocent,

I used to be so free,

And it stole from me my years,

Whilst pretending to be me

Yet now I know the difference,

Between what’s real and gone,

I hear the whispers fading now

As I move towards the dawn

The strength I’ve gained in silence

Is the loudest sound I’ve known,

And in this quiet, I have found

The courage to be whole

And one thing about it,

That would take me years to see,

Was that this too shall pass,

It’s not eternity.

17

In borrowed rooms I’d laid my head

When home was getting hard,

Acted like everything was fine

And played my little part

This was just a sleepover,

The food was not that urgent,

But they came to realise

My struggle was emerging

I didn’t ask for help or hand,

I thought I’d do it on my own,

And though I tried to hide it

My hand had always shown

For a night I could relax

But the time would come to pass,

Soon I'd face the fact again,

This peace could never last

For home was waiting, silent, cold,

Expectations hard to meet,

I longed for respite, but in truth

I couldn’t cheat defeat

I’d leave the warmth, the care, the light,

Back to my own abode

But I'd be counting down the nights

Till next I ran from home

And over time I'd realise

That the world was not so perfect

Because families had their limits

And I felt like such a burden

23

I saw her.

And the world lit up.

A voice I’d always known,

steady and warm.

In that moment,

I was no longer waiting.

Every step I’d taken,

every twist of the road—

all of it led to her.

32

we are all

children in the dark

holding blocks of pain

each day another weight

but beneath it all,

that child remains

hungry for love

we carry their hurt,

but we don’t have to stay there

we can shine light

into that shadowed space

and whisper to that child,

“you are enough,

you are whole”

the blocks crumble

one by one

as we rebuild

with softer hands,

healing,

loving,

becoming

the light we always needed

Poems and Paintings - a 2024 Project

Poems and Paintings is a collection that explores the intersection between words and visuals. In this project, I have sought to capture the essence of famous paintings by expanding on their subject matter through exposition and the power of poetry. By writing on specific paintings I enjoy I have found that I grew closer to the artist's vision and gained a deeper understanding of the thematic impact these paintings left behind. I invite you to explore the creativity behind these pieces.