God bless things multifunctional
and things that bring us glee
like my favourite mug - it can hold a KitKat
as well as gallons of tea

I hold you
you’re barely a minute old
all eyes, screams and unfounded dreams
wrapped tight like a sushi roll
 
you’re ten million karats of gold
I can’t bear to put down
I want to raise you above my head
parade you around the town
 
but before I burst out the chorus
of The Circle of Life
your mother smiles, sighs and says
“Al....not tonight.”
 
even if I can’t present you
to everyone like a king
I’ll just have to give you the world
and much more
my everything

sugar-soaked in Snapchat sepia
our expressions embellished like squashed licorice
a sticky tattoo on tattered sleeves
an exhibition of adolescence
 
smiles that should split our faces sore
                      bearing chattered gnashers
                                                gnawed from student anxieties
                                                                     stained from library coffee and
                                                                                                    polished by budget toothpaste
 
our salted skin doused in vodka
and coke – making the memory sweeter
with bar-time brothers
oblivious to the incoming traffic
 
I remember hearing the Wednesday swansong
“Don’t look back in anger”
I rarely do

​it’s evening
the rain is heavy
lamplights
on a cul-de-sac 
 
inside a bedroom
he feeds her chocolate
from the bedside table
already broken up
into little squares
the crumbs melt into the carpet
 
her eyes wander around the room
she communicates through nods
and tired smiles
 
hours pass
others enter and leave
asking if they could help
or if she needed anything
 
she gives off a dry cough
before clicking her tongue twice
 
he closes her eyes
and leaves to tell others