Peter Lilly: Poems

He says he chased her away so now he falls asleep on trains. He says he chased her out when he started drowning her voice with whisky he can no longer afford. So he drinks cheep cider and falls asleep on trains. He says he chased her out with his money making schemes, and his time inside was too long for her to wait. So he clouds his memory with heavy liquid and falls asleep on trains. He says he chased her out with all the responsibilities he pushed to her side of the bed, and when he was released she didn't try to hide her impatient infidelity. He ignored it with liquor, yet no bottles were smashed until the last time she slammed that door. Now he wants to stay nauseous and he falls asleep on trains. He says he chased her out and she left. That empty crib and shelves full of gifts and photos were too much not to burn. He hates the drink but he loves the way it's killing him, even so, part of him still does not w...

I am thawing. I will soon be liquid. But, for now I crack with violent snaps, and in contrast I serenely drip, drip, ripples expanding into relaxation. I am thawing. I will soon be liquid. But for now I exist in two separate forms, one hard and unbending, cold and unfeeling. The other is calm, laughing in movement, penetrable in stillness and I am alive in both. I am thawing, and I'll soon be us eful agai n . . . . Having spent the last few years working with the homeless I have encountered all sorts of people who are running from, hiding from, trying to heal from, or fighting against all sorts of traumas. Because of this I have come to view trauma as something that freezes people: It can make people hard and unfeeling, can paralyse people's development so they cannot grow and it can chill people with sorrow that doesn't fade.  The process of recovery from a trauma is difficult because there are ups where progress and healin...

Subtle chains always linger, their clinking echoes in the atmosphere long after the metal has been dissolved. Every type of freedom is infant at conception and feeble in its dependance on sacrifice. Expect to have to nurture your emancipation as you fight to breathe unpolluted air with newly purchased lungs.   Written May 2014. There must always be a lot of patience involved in fighting for freedom, not least when a change has been achieved in principle, for that change to filter down into attitudes and emotions.