Five Poems by Paul Tristram

 

Taking In The Room (On All Levels)

 

“Your first group 

‘Clairalience’ 

… and the ones  

with blatant 

‘Covetousness’ 

and fluctuating 

‘Insecurities’ 

will shuffle 

and back-hover. 

Slight stammers 

are eagerness, 

and nail-biting  

is nervousness. 

Once you get 

past the 

‘Mushrooms’  

and ‘Detergents’ 

… you might 

get lucky with 

‘Wood-Spring’, 

like fresh twigs 

snapping briskly 

in a heavily 

bluebelled wood. 

That’s the ticket 

… Jackpot, 

big ‘Potential’ 

… and the Host 

isn’t even aware 

of the ‘Power’ 

they are carrying.” 

 

 

 

Listen To The Dogs (Of Instinct)… They’re Never Wrong

 

There’s a (Dark) ‘Power’ 

… in those who 

treat/see ‘Alienation’ 

… as others 

view ‘Going Home’.  

The ‘Cold Side’ 

of the bed 

comforts those 

uncomfortable, 

stifled, claustrophobic  

by (Too Much) 

‘Attention’. 

Those who Vampire 

retreat back to 

the Shadows… 

recharge differently 

… and Fairy Tales, 

to them, have always 

been Blueprints and 

Warnings not just Stories. 

 

 

 

Metanoia Miracles

 

… Depression, 

Apathy?  

‘Lassitude’  

for sure 

… yet,  

(Hidden) 

behind and 

underneath… 

there is a  

‘Healing’  

taking place. 

There is a  

(Soul) 

‘Battery 

-Charging’ 

happening… 

which  

is why 

I merely  

Watch, 

without  

Alarm, 

and leave  

her… be. 

We are  

back to  

‘Circles’… 

and this 

‘Emergence’  

will be  

Major 

(Following  

this Depth) 

and  

Significant 

enough… 

to ‘Butterfly’ 

(Big) Changes… 

 

 

Audio Tear

 

“… so, Max Ernst’s  

‘Figure Ambigue,  

1919/1920’…  

is the opposite of how  

your brain works? 

Cats, although lovely, 

‘Distract’ and KEEP  

OUT the ‘Good’ 

things as well as ‘Bad’ 

… and your Grampa 

smiled widely when 

-ever the ‘Stealing 

By Finding’ Law 

was ever mentioned. 

See, Mister? I know 

I’m laughing… 

I only said ‘Penny 

for your thoughts’ 

and all ‘That’ came  

out without ‘Pause’ 

or ‘Reflection’…  

as if you were simply  

giving street directions.” 

 

 

 

Back To Gloucester

 

Selective in your ‘Chivalry’ 

… there is a ‘Forget the  

Dog Beware of the Owner’ 

sign hanging off the razor 

wire on the Boundary Walls 

surrounding your Emotions. 

“I once saw a ‘Big Cat’, 

an hour from Churchdown, 

sleek and muscle-rippling, 

walking along a hedgerow 

… from the passenger 

window of an old red Rover, 

as we towed a caravan 

(I wrote the first chapter 

of ‘The Candletree Graves’ 

whilst living in) down to 

Summercourt in Cornwall.” 

I stand a far more complete 

man today, than ever before 

… I am becoming an entire 

‘Atlas’ all by my very self. 

Rolling-up (mental) sleeves 

and tackling ‘Negative’ 

Patterns and Behaviours… 

rather than running away 

takes you further in the End.

Paul Tristram is a widely published Welsh writer who deals in the Lowlife, Outsider, and Outlaw genres.  He wrote his first poem as a teenager following his release from the (Infamous) Borstal ‘HMP Portland’, and he has been creating Literary Terrorism ever since. His novel ‘Crazy Like Emotion’ published by Close To The Bone Publishing is now available.