Solace on the mountain

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Standing still atop of the mountain I look out and see the golden sun setting on the distant horizon

A quiet descends and the light begins to fade

There’s a chill in the air and the leaves on the trees start to rustle in the breeze

There is calm, there is peace

This is a happy place, a place where I feel better when I am here

My Mountain of Solace

The Finer Things

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Ice for blood

Free the whispered

Judgement of words

 

I am myself

 

Rain needle sharp

Upon my face

Back to wall.

 

I stand tall.

 

Wind through hair

Decision and equivocation

Denied their say.

 

As I play.

 

Sun warmed bones

Gentle smiling eyes

Timid loving silence.

 

I am content.

Winter Memory

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Strong black coffee, four sugars please.

A bright knife edge winter`s day.

Bacon on breath, rind in teeth.

Trees sweating, hoar-frost gleaming,

Fog breath smoking, hands freezing,

Engine screaming, sunlight streaming.

Christ but it`s good to be alive.

Caress Some Chords

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Caress some chords – Like a lover needs another to belong

I melt into magical mysteries of song

Lose dubiety – surrender to serenades of serendipity

 

Caress some chords – Like a river needs an ocean to be free

I swim into this cosmic soup of creativity

Make the time to breathe – Inhaling all the flowers and rainbows there can be

 

Never ending colours of light filled harmonies

Undulating undertones of possibilities

In a sea of sound – where true love abounds

Caress Some Chords with me

 

Caress Some Chords – Like a sunrise needs a sky in which to sing

I spread my wings and fly through sweetest sounding strings

Shine my love light bright – Dive into the slipstreams of the melodies I find
©2015 Nicola Gladwin (aka Nicci Gladwin)

Knocking out negatives

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Knocking out negatives

I am flipping the coin at poison parrots urging me to join

A journey of steep descent into a hostile abyss

The starting point is in my head, colluding with such promises

To keep me safe, to keep me sound, to keep my little light bright

Convincing as they seem right now, I push them out of sight

I flip the coin into their faces

Squawking insults, love erases

Compassion is my key, administrating TLC

Yes, taking loving care of me

Knocking out negatives

I am trusting there’s a way through this

I am thinking outside of the box

Yes, finding diamonds in the rocks

My feeling thoughts I now refine, to manifest my own design

Creativity, our universal key

Knocking out negatives

I flip the coin for me

I colour, I sing, I write

I begin

Knocking out negatives

I choose to be happy now

Within

 

©2015 Nicola Gladwin (aka Nicci Gladwin)

Growing Beneath that Black and White Flag

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Pumping veins and screaming fans

Every soul unified by melodies

As we wear every lyric like a tattoo

Grinning as this is why I pulled through

 

The band, their sound, their love

Became our connection, from down under to up above

As we lived our teenage dream

But days apart singing to our theme

 

Who would’ve thought that ten years on

We would still talk until one reaches dawn

That our love for the skull and crossbones

Would tie together forever our two time zones

 

Because I’m happiest when I speak to you

The laughter when you sent me that kangaroo

Knowing that we’re sharing the same smile

To see you again I would run every mile

 

Joy is the knowledge that soon we’ll get

To share the same sunset

The same air, the same stars

Just like in the beginning with the sound of those guitars

 

Words can never be enough to express

How much I adore your heart, the talent you possess

Thank you for being online that day

Now let’s watch those dolphins as we sail away

Butter

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

I feel better when I eat butter
I go nuts for pats on garden peas
even though it makes me fatter
I love it on crackers, under cheese

 

 

 

Lauren Foster

Haunts of the Grand Union Canal

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Haunts of the Grand Union Canal

Few things bring more calmness than
a wander along the canal;
leaving traffic and cares behind,
getting away from it all.

The weirs gurgle peacefully in the sun,
the ducks splash to and fro;
it’s a gracious time in early Spring,
and a pleasant place to go.

Echo Bridge is an exotic place,
not one echo but many;
the source of its special properties:
it’s shaped as a catenary.

The effect comes as complete surprise,
when one is just walking along;
it’s rare to hear such sound effects,
repeated and oddly strong.

It soars overhead, straddling the canal,
symbol of a glorious past;
it’s brick-built arches represent
old skills not yet surpassed.

Secret Island seems barely alive,
only the ivy seems viable;
and yet, in just a few weeks time,
its paths will be barely passable.

Now its trees seem dead and white,
brittle and devoid of life;
Soon leaves will come bursting forth,
and nettles and briars be rife.

Before, few would have ventured here,
fenced off, locked and defended;
now it’s covered in paths and litter,
its fence no longer mended.

We wander over the island at will,
studying the woodfall as it crumbles;
this small canal-bound islet,
rare remnant of English jungle.

We make our way back as the light is fading,
past joggers, geese and swans;
we’ve had a pleasant day of rambling,
aimlessly hither and yon.

I feel better when I am

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

I feel better when I am gently allowing my emotions and feelings to flow
I feel better when I am trusting that they will naturally just come and just go
I feel better when I reassure myself that’s it’s okay to feel mad sad or low
And to sometimes know what that’s telling me, and for sometimes not to know

I feel better when I am listening to my body and what she really needs.
As her wisdom quietly talks to me, despite the poison I feed
I feel better knowing her needs are simple; rest, food, movement and touch
I feel better as I appreciate how she’s carried me, never asking for much

I feel better when I give myself a break and just let myself be me
When I stop striving for perfection, and allow ‘good enough’ to free me
I feel better when I finally notice your love and allow myself to receive it
When you say that I am okay for the thousandth time, and I this time I finally believe it

I feel better when I am allowing my words to soothe and heal the hurts of others
Who are wounded by the world of lost loves and imperfect fathers and mothers
I feel better when I am smiling as my own advice is the hardest to follow
As my once- wise words stick in my throat and I don’t even try to swallow

I feel better when I remember to notice all the bright and beautiful things
And to marvel and thank goodness for the wonders that each new day brings
I feel better when I remember that forgetting these things is human nature after all
If I want to see the beautiful sunrise, I must allow the nightfall

I feel better when I accept my thoughts and feelings as they are
Without trying to paint a rainbow over my bloody scars
I feel better when I embrace my wounds as part of the imperfect me
I feel better when I am being myself, and allowing the world to see me

I feel better when I am accepting that I do care what other people think
When I spit the bile of indignant independence finally down the sink
I feel better when I allow myself to feel the need to be loved and to belong
And recognise that we all need this and that it is not wrong

I feel better when I laugh until I cry, with friends who love me unconditionally.
I feel better when I see the humour of it all but know that the joke isn’t on me
I feel better when I do stuff just for fun and let myself have a silly season
I feel better when I just to enjoy myself-I don’t have to give any reason

I feel better when I am just sitting and watching my mind do her thing
I feel better when I am just breathing and listening to the wisdom within
I feel better when I switch off the screens and let my eyes see the real reality
I feel better when I am accepting our world for all its love and cruelty

I feel better when I create my own world through a poem, a song or a dream
I feel better when I express myself even if some people don’t know what I mean
I feel better when I am making a stand for a world that I know can be better
I feel better when we are all making a stand and helping each other feel better

In Solitude

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

It’s ok to walk alone,
You don’t have to hold their hand,
Drag them through unhappiness,
‘Cause you don’t want to stand.

Let them be and ponder.
They may catch you up.
You, alone, can wander
And learn to give them up.

Bubbles

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

The first 9 stretch out from the wand

Each one, plum sized, quivering gently

Propelled on a gentle mid-June breeze

moving randomly across suburban scenery

 

I take my time with the next blow

A pair of oranges, rainbow smeared

each one holding a reflected me

One glides away, doomed from the start

the other, disappears against a cotton sleeve

 

Blowing as if flickering a candle flame

I produce 28 gooseberries that saunter off like bees

Some mark the bark, some glisten the leaves

and the last few assail and escape over the trees

 

I try out my next trick and conjure 2 apples

fused as a conjoined twin

This double-bubble hovers and shimmers

waiting for me, but it’s a booby trapped globe, exploding

causing shrieks of glee

 

I contemplate producing a grapefruit

When a tug on my arm, small outstretched hand

other resting on a hip, disarms me begrudgingly

I hand over the bottle with a sheepish grin

and the soapy coated, orange plastic, dipping stick.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Free

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

I feel better when feeling better is not my priority,

But instead comes as a surprise,

A new avenue for my curiosity,

And all the adventure that it implies,

 

There are times that I feel I cannot breathe,

That I feel better when I am not me,

We all have bodies that our minds can leave,

And I feel better when I am free,

 

For what good is feeling good if you dwell only on feeling better?

Happiness is in its own pursuit,

It’s when I don’t, that I can feel better,

It’s when I’m not, that I treasure feeling good,

 

Yes, I feel better when I am free,

To see,

To feel,

And to be.

Joy

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

If hope really is the thing with feathers
then joy must be the thing with wings, that lifts
you up over your life, free, untethered,
to see a world others can’t. High on drifts

of cool air, you fly, glide, dive and hover-
you are weightless, ageless, playing a game,
collecting sun memories like nectar.
Joy comes uncalled, it doesn’t know its name.

It appears sometimes when you’re least ready
an uninvited guest at your table
feeding you morsels of brown bread
to build you up. Joy says;  you are able

to be yourself, whatever that is,
no restrictions, no judgement, no limits.

Hope

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

I feel better when I am talking to my best friend.

 

He is always there for me,

Whatever it may be.

 

If I am feeling down, he will listen to me,

Lend a shoulder to lean on.

 

Even when I don’t have faith in myself,

That I will not get better, he does.

Kyle says, “It will be okay. It will get better.”

 

He is always there for me,

Whatever it may be.

 

Depression is not an easy thing to talk about.

But with Kyle, I can be open and honest.

His support is what counts.

I don’t have to hold anything back.

 

Kyle has been my rock for a long time,

But the same can’t be said for that family of mine.

 

I honestly don’t know what I would do without him.

He is the reason why I am still alive and will always be a friend of mine.

Kyle is not just any old friend but my best friend.

He is the reason why I am trying to get on the mend

So I can be his friend, his support, while he recovers with his own mental health.

 

Kyle may not be with me, right here, right now,

But his support is all that matters.

 

Sabeela

The Light

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

I feel better when I am

By Chelsea foster

 

Imagine a flower, fearful of the night

Covering up its beauty due to absence of a light

Much like a flower, we tend to hide away

To long to feel better is where we’d hope to stay

And though a flower lacks a heart, our similarities still remain

Though our strongest difference remains in these feelings we can change.

I feel better when I am sleeping, or should I say within my dreams

The place where I go, because nothing is as it seems

I feel better when I am drawing

Like a constant creation of ideas

Such a comfort through expression

That I hope to last for years

There’s many ways and many paths

That one can wish to take

To create a shine within your smile

And feelings afar from fake

I feel better when I see his face,

A friend could not compare

To the emotions that overflow my mind

When I know that someone cares

I feel better when it’s raining

The outside path is lit with light

A place to perfect for one dance,

It would have to last all night

I feel better when I’m on the beach

Or anywhere that’s far away

To take a trip to somewhere new

Is where I’d wish to stay

But not long till I’ve had my joy

From wherever I may Rome

I’ll pack my bags and head on back,

I feel better when I’m at home,

I feel better when I find that glow,

The one that’s all around

The glow that shines with in his eyes,

As the rain crashes to the ground

The shine within that brand new paint

As though unleashed from a darkened dome

That gleam from being somewhere far

Or somewhere close to home

Hidden within the glistening night

Or at the end of that dark tunnel

Even beneath the darkest streams

Or flowing along the runnel

I’ve seen this glow in many places

So I’m certain it can be found

Though it’s hard to grasp its glow

I promise it’s all around

And though it can be hard to find

And darkness hard to fight

Just like the little flower

I feel better when I aim to find the light.

 

ARTS IN MENTAL HEALTH

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Arts in mental health,
BrightSparks presents…
Writing on the Wall:
Attenborough welcomes you all,
colourful paintings on 1st floor,
different paintings express their feelings,
show how they’re dealing.
Their hard work shows the challenge;
this is their weapon to escape.
Easel works as armour.
Brushes work as swords.
Colour shows the anger and love.
Colour speaks, all languages.

TABLA

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

Rhythm of the music is pure and divine.
It remains in you and me. Helps to make some peace.
The tabla gets battered but gives you pleasure –
Dha dhin dhin dha dha dhin dha
dha tin tin ta tak dhin dhin dha.
That’s the language but for me it’s my treasure.
Musical instruments are gifts from God
through which we connect to ourselves, each other.

*

Repetition of hand movements
create the fascinating sound of the Tabla,
put mind at ease and pause in thoughts,
help calm me down and know myself.
Powerful beats of Tabla piercing through,
connecting ear with heart and soul.
The battle inside stops for a while
giving me the pleasure of winning.
I rise from the feeling of being small
and I roar like a lion,
accept all the challenges.

My Feel Good Factors

posted in: Poems 2014 | 0

I feel better when the sun is shining, especially upon my face

or when I watch my daughter, proudly win a race.

 

When I’m surrounded by nature and all it’s wonderous’ awe

it helps me to feel grounded, it’s real and rugged and raw.

 

When music’s playing, who wrote or sang it, I really do not mind

If I can dance and sing along, it helps me to unwind.

 

When those closest to me, gather together and celebrate

our dreams, memories and friendships, until the next time I happily wait.

 

When receiving a smile, a hug, a gesture of thanks

It allows me to feel acknowledged, instead of drawing blanks.

 

These are some feel good factors, I share with you today,

I hope they may inspire you, to look for your special moments, help you on your way.