White Noise

30/10/2020 –  Poem a Day Compilation



I long for white noise in the dead of night

When I yearn to sleep without the light

And crave dreams with all my might

Yet every time it is a fight.



I long for white noise to wash over me

For the creaks and crashes to let me be,

To sleep knowing that I am free

From the jarring sounds of things I can’t see.



I long for white noise to block out the sound

That causes my tired head to pound

But the clamour just goes round and round

And not rest can ever be found.

The Madness

18/07/2020 –  Poem a Day Compilation


As the walls closed in

And the darkness fell

The sounds of the night

Crept into her ears

Her hands clamping about her head

Holding in what sanity remained

Against the screeches and screams

From beyond the brick walls

Of this lonely and lonesome place

From which there was no escape,

No distraction and no respite

Despite the frenzy of prayers

In this godforsaken place

To a non-existent deity

For a freedom that will never come

When lunacy takes hold of those

Who stand outside the door

That they no longer understand

What is right and wrong

And buy into the hysteria

Of the latest fad treatments

With no thought of the consequences

Of testing procedures on the manic

Without their permission

Or even their knowledge

Hidden from scrutiny by demented laws

Serving a master as unsound of mind

As those incarcerated in psychiatric wards

For indeterminate periods of time

Under the auspices of mental health

A true derangement of a system

Meant to protect the world from the insane

And the depressed from themselves

While the unstable run the asylum 

Which makes the rest of us mad.

The Sound of Silence

07/07/2020 – Poem a Day Compilation


Do you hear that sound?

It is the sound of a million voices,

Silent in the dark,

Afraid and confused and betrayed

By the noise inside their heads

That won’t pass their lips,

That can’t be heard in the night,

That wells up inside them

And chokes them

While those with the power

To yell and scream and shout

Do nothing in this world

But make endless noise

Drowning out the silence

Of another voice lost –

Another muzzle fitted,

Another story untold –

When we desperately need to hear

And to listen

To those who are silent

To those with no voice

To those who hide in the shadows

Beyond the safe spaces and the tears

Because in this world they cannot shout

Over the static that surrounds them

And there is no blood curdling scream

Until it is too late,

(As the scream falls silent

And you wonder why they didn’t speak,

Why they didn’t cry out,

Why no one heard)

And the yelling never stops,

It never goes away

It echoes and repeats

In the silence of the forgotten;

And the terror that lives in that silence

Sucks air out of lungs,

Rips flesh from bones

And lets blood run dry

Because it has no answers

Only silence, and more silence,

And there,

In the sound of silence,

It hides, and it grows,

Consuming everything –

All that betrayal,

All that confusion,

All that fear –

Until there is only silence

And silence is the only sound.