Wasteland

Out beyond box hill
Past the sewage factory
Framed by pylons and chimneys
Are the wastelands

Here nomadic tribes
Wandering for days
Search for water or seek shade
From a savage sun

Here rockets leave for Mars
Returning after weeks
With dead and injured comrades
And scientific samples

Here too with the Maya
Battle scarred we powwowed
Made terms with their king, set sail
To circumnavigate the globe

It’s condemned
The wasteland
‘A proper eye sore!’
they say ‘and dangerous too’
The council wants it
To build a skate park
Cos kids round here have nothing much to do

Darkness

The dark is a summer shadow
A smile at the edge of the moon
A blanket to hang the stars from
A mask for a lover’s rune

The dark is a hidden promise
The blackened eye of a lock
The space in a hidden corner
The secret inside of a box

The dark is a dull reflection
A ghost in an empty tomb
A crack in the face of an angel
A voice in an empty room

The dark is a colour for dreaming
A billowing cloak for the wind
A cushion of curdled enamel
A place where the earth begins

The dark is a haunted vessel
The soft arm that cradles the soul
The view in a guileless mirror
Of the darkness we all own

RIDDLE

Massive
Ordactil
Nocturnal
Slack
Toed
Eastern
Riddles don’t sign their names they just use initials,

It’s a little known fact that extinct T-rex
Couldn’t write at all so they just signed X

Mad

Our teacher’s really lost it
He’s forgotten how to speak
He says ‘Ta Ta and Bysee’
Like his brain has sprung a leak

He asked Miss. Snow for ‘bickies’
He’s got teddies in his car
And he keeps a little photo
Called ‘derd a cuti yes u are!’

His hair is always all messed up
He keeps falling fast asleep
And he hasn’t marked our homework
For weeks and weeks and weeks

We thought a witch had cursed him
Or a zombie mushed his brains
But he’s got a brand new baby
That’s why our teacher’s gone insane