More than a Rosebud [sonnet]
There was one part of her which made its mark;
though others did their work to sculpt the whole.
The way her lips were shaped in me did spark
a joyful sigh. (I give you my parole).
With mouths like rosebuds some can show their charm;
while others pout and pose to cause a stir.
Her mouth of cavelike mystery would disarm
the staunchest facial structure connoisseur!
Yet, some would find my observations coarse;
might even say such words could sound perverse.
To them, with vigour, I, with counterforce,
say lips have found their zenith in this verse!
Her mouth: The part which deeply spoke to me.
If you could see it too, you would agree.
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© Alan Morrison, 2013
Locust
I couldn’t resist photographing this very photogenic locust. I know they get a bad press for their eating habits but they are sooo beautiful! 
🙂 You can’t see it in the photo but the inside of its thighs are bright red
Alike [poem]
like a leaf
half-driven by the wind
half by my own propulsion
I am blown
by strategies unknown
toward the goal
like a dream
from which I woke to find
I’d been some other person
in a haze
an uncompleted phrase
without a verb
My Creamly Friend [lunar sonnet]
A Hunter’s Moon of power shines today;
and we are but her ebb and flowful tides.
Some sensing souls are thrown in disarray
while round our greenblue ball she creamly glides.
Reflecting only light from mother’s smile
intensified by monthish phasely flow;
she grasps my sleepless heartbeat for a while
and only later see she’s helped me grow.
From where, I wonder, did your craters come?
Did meteorites invade your virgin space?
When in your tidal waters I have swum
did you infuse me with your limpid grace?
A moonless earth I cannot comprehend.
Without her gravity I’d have no friend.
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.
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© Alan Morrison, 2013
Just Another Culture Clash [sonnet]
Orang and Utan were two chimpanzees;
animalistic actors on the fence –
jungle-living creatures with no conscience
wrapped up in the branches of some trees.
Then Orang nearly jumped out of his skin;
a human rattled something in the leaves.
So Utan got the hump – rolled up his sleeves:
“Upstarts we will not tolerate within”.
But when those words reverbed in Thunder’s ears
a lightning bolt from darkened skies unfurled.
“Your style of life and thought disturbs my world
It’s time you heard some music from the spheres”.
What’s happening here? said monkey (voice was brash).
I answered: Just another culture clash.
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© Alan Morrison, 2013
Iceberg in your Heart [sonnet]
You’re not the woman who I once had known.
For then, our universes parallel,
the iceberg in your heart had still not grown
and then you laughed and loved so well.
Abuse you suffered at your father’s hands
has hung itself upon your perfect breasts
while by your prison bed another stands;
and now an anger all your words infests.
But how can daddy’s failure take its toll
in such a way that overtures of love
are crushed and burned up by your frozen soul
(your body just an empty pairless glove)?
“I’m lost,” you told me. “Nothing you can do”.
I will not rest until once more you’re you.
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© Alan Morrison, 2013
Unfinished [sonnet]
“Don’t leave me”, were the pleading words you said.
Yet how can I leave someone who’s not there?
“Don’t leave me all alone” — your words (with dread)
as if we’re in some torrid love affair.
“I need you in my life”, you said with tears.
Yet I’ve no function in that life today.
For when I send my arrows or my spears
of love or any thing, you look away.
So far we’ve not fulfilled our mission call;
we never really finished what began.
Parentheses have been our curtain call.
(Sometimes you made me feel like I’m a man).
There is no you for me left here to leave.
In the meantime I’ll just quietly grieve.
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© Alan Morrison, 2013
Rib Cage [poem]
He blankly gazed into the menu
ordered spare ribs
(never looking up — no smile)
How come I knew he’d order those?
I’d only seen him for a little while.
Somehow those ribs were written on his face.
Maybe I word-associated so that phrase
had somehow represented who he was:
A prisoner swaddled in a cage
[like ribs which never really come as spare]
life lived on the outside in his head
through fantasies of masturbation’s dry instead
ness
monthsome empty hole unbled
ness
nestling there.
A sad affair.
Smart Alec [sonnet]
What did poor old Alec do to coin
the phrase referring to his name as Smart?
And who did those two words so rudely join?
If I were him I’d keep them both apart.
I’m told he was some hapless New York pimp
who, with his wife, the punters he did rob.
Although it seems Smart Alec was a wimp
who failed to bribe the cops while on the job!
So Alec Hoag was never really “smart”
and neither were his namesakes since those days.
Such people never speak out of their heart;
an emptiness their knee-jerk speech betrays.
They stalk the wise like midges round a light;
Smart Alec’s just an envy parasite!
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© Alan Morrison, 2013
“I’m not Worthy”. “I don’t Deserve It”
If I had a cent for every time I’ve heard someone say something like that to me — either generally in my life or in my work as a counsellor — I would be a rich man. Half the world runs around on an ego trip (narcissists, bobble-heads, gigolos, ‘princesses’, etc.) thinking they’re entitled to anything and willing to trample on anyone to get it (though in many cases that is a vain attempt to compensate for feelings of inferiority) with the other half thinking they deserve nothing or less. Both are extremes and both are destructive. If, for example, a woman says “I don’t deserve a good man”, then that will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. She will repel all men who could bring her good and act as a magnet for those who will contribute to her downfall. Usually people have been brainwashed to believe such a thing. Parents and teachers bear much responsibility for influencing the thought patterns of the children gifted to pass through their hands temporarily. If a child is being put down for the best part of its childhood, then that sets up the pattern. One big-hearted woman I know who lacks much in confidence spent her entire childhood being told by her father that she was “a donkey” while her mother undermined her feelings about her appearance. This had a huge fallout in her life in terms of confidence and relationships, which she has had much difficulty in throwing off (and now, at the age of sixty, the light has gone on). Some children come into life already equipped with maturity and are savvy enough to deal with the crap their parents and teachers (and even other children!) give them (though it’s still a great lesson). But most will be crippled by the thoughtlessness or deliberate nastiness of their carers (who will doubtless have been subjected to childhood crap themselves which they then perpetuate — it’s a cycle). This means that many people choose partners who will not be good for them and work in a situation way below their true achievement level. It’s as if they deliberately choose a partner or work (and a put-down boss) which is going to confirm their poor thoughts about themselves. This can even result in an apparently wasted life (though, ultimately, nothing is totally “wasted” because all experiences are teachers in some way). This is why we, as parents and teachers, partners and friends, must examine ourselves to ensure that we give those in our hands the confidence they need to fulfil their mission in this world and to embrace life fully. So, to those who think they are not worthy or are ill-deserving of something in life, I say: “Who indoctrinated you to think like that, to have fear as your victorious friend instead of your defeated enemy?” We came into this world to grow in depth and stretch of character, to engage in adventure, to attempt the impossible, to improve ourselves and to experience joy — not to slide downhill into mental and emotional oblivion with an abusive partner or demeaning job (and jackboot boss). If you think that you are not worthy of something or don’t deserve it, then that is all the more reason to do it! In fact, that is our calling. For, as cosmic explorers, it is our place in life to prove bullshit wrong! 🙂
The Naked Troubadour 