Little Men (Swansong)

You might stare down a winding road
but its nothing there
will you fight on?
will you still care?
Little men can not be kings
and everything i believe is little
Eden, she said her name was Eden
and everything i knew became a riddle

I simply dont understand
what it takes to be a man
in a world where
the right girl's stare
can mean the difference
between pride and poverty
Maybe its a country song
could show me where i'm going wrong
teach me how to be little properly

Eden, she said her name was Eden
but could an angel ever love a heathen?
Even a little man feels a little lonely
its such a huge world
its like my little owns me
cos right now
i'm like how?
how?
how?
how do i stop so being little?

She said her name was Eden
but she refused to sing
i guess this makes us even
her song's for you, my king.

"Message Not Sent... Saved to Outbox to Retry Later..."

Less of me
more of we
there's no getting passed compromise
but your eyes...
the rising sun envies your eyes
and i sympathise with the sun's envy
so maybe compromise is somewhere in me
that keeps you from walking away
when all i need is for you to stay
because your eyes...
your eyes grow wings on butterflies
humming birds sing them lullabies
nestled in the branches of a sycamore tree


if more of we
means less of me
then this is how i want to wake up
compromise is for the sunrise in your eyes




I should have charged my battery... dont let it end like this... Please... Just me.

My God!

"What about God?"
Yeah...
What about Him?
Look if God is GOD,
why leave reason to doubt Him?
You might think you know where i'm coming from
but maybe i'm on my way coming home
when God says,"Let there be light..."
why not just say,"Let there be RIGHT!!!...
and nothing else!!!"
these are some of the questions i ask myself
because blind faith doesn't bode well for my odds
there's a reason blind men have guide dogs
so who am i to ask "Why God?"
Why NOT???
Of course mysterious way will lead to questions


but please
spare me your suggestions
cos when you ask me, "What about God?"
I say, "What about Him?...
What am i without Him?"


Yes... i not only believe in but actually have MUCH love for the Big Man in the Sky... J.R.

Voicemail 1

Hey... you there?
love never plays fair
and you could get your heart broken
but true courage is in learning to re-open
to the possibility of a kiss to change it all
even though nothing ever really changes
just cos a situation re-arranges
doesn't mean who you become
wasn't always inside you
you simply decide to
listen to a part of yourself you've kept hidden
lay ground to a path long-forbidden

because you're disillusioned by the rules
that govern fools
and stifle re-invention
maybe change was never even your intention
but you heard on the news that Johnny got shot
he was a good man
so maybe this moment's all we've got...

i guess what i called to say
is do you have any plans later on today?

Seriously... Call me back...

Pure Chocolate

Every flavour has been flavoured before
until i see a Mars bar hovering at my door
Dammit!
I'm losing it...
then i wonder, just whose is it?
I'm Cocoa Curious
but not to know her name
is not to play her game
'cos caramel's the same
once you get to the centre
no!
this is "do NOT enter"
& that's not what i'm after

I'm chasing her laughter
down the rabbit hole
onto yellow brick road
falling into a candy-coated fairy tale
where Princess meets The Toad
but just then, without warning,
my delirium slips-

...pure chocolate's melted into
Miriam's lips...


To Be Continued... The Toad

Baby Bruce

Look at my Goddess
doing her duty
with the grace and beauty
of a WonderWoman

just a little more, baby
give me just a little more

even with a crown or a cape
she couldn't be more superhuman
if love is faith
then she's my Holy Qu'ran

we're almost here, baby
baby almost here
baby's so so near

Look at her shut her eyes
to fire that one last shot
that's right, baby,
give us all you've got
my Beautiful Baby
you're such a Queen

then she gives me the first miracle
i've ever seen-

Look at his sparkling un-used eyes
dont laugh at daddy
dont laugh when he cries
My Son
but also My Moon and My Earth
your birth is now the sum of my worth
within your tiny, magical hands
is every dream i ever aspired to be as a man

Thank you, My Angel
My Warrior Woman
this is where the heavens meet
my heart is now complete


In Honour of our new baby boy, Bruce III.... God watch over you little man... Heavens know i will.... Love Uncle Rich.

Doing Time

I'm a soldier in my own mind

a True Soldier, that means no crying

...but i committed no crime

feel i was loved on borrowed time...

Hurt Yourself

You woke up with my back to you
felt you grow colder
nudged my left shoulder
simulating the one trick you could do
"...this is not about him..."
you whispered
as you drew me in
But i was dreaming of the sky
of the angels who sang of shame
yet you would not call out his name
rocking me to this unrehearsed rhythm
Up and down, front then left
"...end me now.... love is theft..."
it was clear you were still with him
one soul tear was how it had begun
yet a sea of soles couldn't induce me to cry
for while you wrought vengeance upon the sun
I-
my heart was exclusive to the sky.

Desert Green

I'm wishing on your number
it's mere seconds before my jealous slumber
whisks me out of your reach

but i'm hanging in for that one last call
teach me how to fall
without winding up disoriented and dizzy

...are you still busy?

its getting harder to keep my eyes open
slipping off to where thoughts and dreams
are interwoven

where you stand in between
calling out to me

eyes so green
they colour deserts serene

calling out for me

wrapped in your safe embrace
there's no space for doubt
we belong
like a country song

i hear you calling out

calling for me
falling for me
in the greenest desert of them all...

I drift off imagining when you'll call...


For Painkiller J... even though it didnt work out between us ( you were too old-fashioned for me!!!), thanks for reminding me how being in love feels... Be Happy.... love Uncle Rich...

A snake bit who i am

I would fetch you a star if i thought you'd take it
but there's still no scars from where a snake bit
so no, ...not my heart
you might love me but then start to break it
deep in my history when my soul was naked
before i loved and long before i hated
a snake bit me on my third birthday
yanked me from my momma but never hurt me
it dragged me to its cave
it tagged me as its slave
but silently guided me to a throne
the snake said:
"it's harder to live than to live alone
when you're grown you'll come back to attack me
but know that i bit you so you could be happy."
then the snake crawled off to its secret grave pit
and i looked for the scars of where the snake bit
but all i saw were faces i couldn't recall
so instead of going back, i went into withdrawal
i thought of my party and how even then my cake was late
and then it hit me
the snake bit me
because the snake was fate...

and so
before you go
do you know who i am?


*I owe this to Darlyne whose jumbled talk- or really, my waxy ears- inspired the intitial idea of my message. Thanks for being Customer Double- Oh One. Popcorn's coming... SOUP KITCHEN!!!!

Soft Kiss

A kiss
more potent with bliss
than with the promise of
eternal sunshine
captured in a pair of lips
yet not just a prelude
to being nude
no... soul food
from the old school
like a naked pair of left feet
trying to compete
for the affection of a blanket
a flicker in the heart
a candle in the dark
the flint that ignites a spark...

...I kissed a girl
and there was so much beauty in the world...

Holding my breath...

Did you smile?

Did my words linger on your lips?

Or was it some sort of solar eclipse

on a most liberating feeling?

Did it leave you dancing on the ceiling

or just shoot your spirits to the ground?

I wonder...

Were you pleased by my sound

or incensed at my voice?

I made a choice

now its your go

you can tell me, you know

there's no one around

just us, floating in space

looking to be found....

Evening Surprise

Stranded between existance and time
i stare at the faceless clock
listening...
there's a sigh from the tick
and a groan in the tock

tick

tooooooock

will it?

stoooooooop?

or, indeed, start?
trickery in the mind reveals
the emptiness of a heart
void of meaning...

maybe the hands on the clock
are in need of cleaning
or oiling
meanwhile the worker bees
carry on toiling

time so slow it actually hurts
i think this clock is set in reverse
nothing works
nothing moves, nothing IS!
away from you, NOTHING LIVES!!!
They're just....there...
stupid chair, stupid fan, stupid floor-

...suddenly you're at the entrance to my store
wings tucked away
still a vision from the scripture
framed in my doorway
you are my favourite picture
eyes full of joy, (how i treasure those eyes!!)
you float in smiling, "Surprise!"

Coffee Cake

On our way home from the coffee place
a sole drizzle trickled down her face
as she asked me what light i saw her in
and though i could have answered that
i chose to hold my answer back
for what i though might have been embarrassing:
i dont think she even knows
just how beautiful she glows
... wonder what she really thinks of me
but i look into her eyes
and its like a new sunrise
the view from here is quite simply lovely...


I know its more than 10 words but this is how i feel about you. Love, Wall-E Rich.

Cipa (see-pa)

I sleep when i'm hungry, fuck when i'm bored
passed out naked on the kitchen floor
wrestling nightmares of a premature hearse
imagine being wounded yet never feeling sore...
its a curse!

what could be worse than all i wish you hadn't said?
i want you
i need you
out of my head

tinted bottles cant dull the numbness
lust-stained blanket to darken the night
"You okay, baby?" she nags,
I just say "Polite"
but there's this side inspite of me
that's grown beyond control
not quite the man you hoped i'd be
but who i am as a whole

i just need sleep
this rabbit hole, it sinks too deep
at some point i find a dream
then cant wait to open my eyes
somehow, even without you here
i wake up feeling like a sunrise
cos in this dream time doesnt happen
so somewhere i still hear you laughing
as i tight-rope walk the edge of a cliff
naively gazing into the infinite 'what if...'

Lynette's Letter

I knew a girl once,
could glow in the dark
that's how much joy there was in her heart
then this world of fears and madness
-it got to her
acquainted her joy with tears and sadness

I see her now, every once in a while
her new beauty makes me smile.



My Dearest Joy, right or wrong, you'll always be a better woman than I deserve. Yours as long as you'll have me, R.E.K.

This Waking Life

The self-centred sun woke me up

and i was so disappointed like:

Why the fuck didnt i suffocate

in my sleep?

then i reached over to kiss my gorgeous

girlfriend goodmorning

before i remembered i didnt have a girlfriend...

gorgeous or otherwise...

in fact my right hand was so sore from self love

that i had to use my left hand to give my fuzzy

reflection the finger

then i took a dump

knowing that would be the least shitty part of the day

then i yelled at my shower for being so cold

then i yelled at my clothes for being so old

then i went to the fridge to grab something to eat

but i realised i didnt have anything to eat

in fact i didnt have a fridge

that sucked

i screamed FUCK!!!

then i called my best friend to tell her how rubbish

i felt

but i realised my bestfriend existed only online

so if i was offline, so was our friendship

then i banged my head against the wall

and cried: fuck it, fuck it all...

Blister

When i'd start to feel i wasn't here
she'd kiss me and i'd re-appear
i miss her... no-
i miss the love we had
all cos i mistook her for a punching bag
& now my shame has formed a blister
who spoke first? i dont recall
the faster you run, the harder you fall
so once my ego burst
i loved her everything and she was all
it just felt sometimes like she yearned to be conquered
so we'd argue if love should be earned or just sponsored
then she'd push me when i pulled away
was a misguided fool, just a fool today
and i miss her... no
i miss the hope to grow
all cos she boobie-trapped my mistletoe

The Alchemist Storm

He admires the picture frame floating across the room
just breathtaking!
the eye of the storm camoflouges impending doom
...her heart's breaking
unable to comprehend despite how hard he's trying
the floating memories so beautiful... so why is she crying?
her throat is strained
"Please... leave... now..."
so much pain
but he cant take his eyes off the picture frame
no matter how hard he tries, he cant hear what she's saying
7 months of all the dreams he thinks she wanted
a picture of the happiness by which their haunted
cant comprehend despite how hard he tries
cant see the truth until he shuts his eyes

tears... "leave now"...
and the sound of a heart breaking
a perfect picture floating towards him
eyes open, he's awakened!

He ducks-
"Lady, what the fuck?!!"
and finally it hits him, the words he's been missing
"Would you stop trying to fix me and for once... just listen?..."

His Alchemist

She slithers gingerly out of his hold
he'd come to life at the slightest touch
right now she needs the evening cold
sometimes his love can be too much
but she can not leave
even when it gets hard to breathe
she'll stay
in love, you adapt or you fade away
and this man cant be left alone
he might look strong but her heart's his home
and he's where she belongs
is it so wrong to need one's space?
she shuts her eyes to picture his face
how she loves this man!
every strand of hair, every touch of his hand
but is it so cruel to want some air?
he loves her even when she's barely there
and she loves him too, oh she loves him true
loves him like the sun shines bright
she just treasures these late strolls in the night
then its back to him, back into his arms
"I wont break you... i'll do you no harm..."

My Alchemist

I know all the reasons to walk away
but i believe you have the courage to stay
i mean who decides?
we say "i love you" but do rules abide?
Some days you turn my sunshines into night
but then you're the star shining most bright
...how do i return the favour?
I want to sing you a song your heart can savour
I want to be better and kinder and stronger
and i'm trying but i just get it wronger and wronger
feels like my heart could explode...
yet i believe there's light at the end of the road
that i'll learn to turn your tears into giggles
i just need time to work out this riddle
my alchemy's weak but my love is pure
i believe that you'll stay, that love will endure
cos even though i know all the reasons to leave
i believe that you'll stay cos you want to believe

Flight of the Firefly

It's rained all afternoon
my feet hurt and my mind is numb
the sun bid its farewell too soon
"Look for the new sunrise to come"
but time is change
and i feel deranged
trying to solve my way out of dementia
it sometimes feels like life in absentia
when the ones you love the most
are memories and ghosts
... it can get overhwelming

just then i see, in the corner of my eye
the most majestic firefly
and i realise, standing there drenched and alone,
watching this graceful creature in mid-flight
that no matter how bleak the darkness of the night
she always finds her way home.

For my Firefly. Everything's gonna be alright. JR.

Jungle Tunes

If i let my feet rest
before the dust settles
I'll be distressed
for i am the rebel
turn up the treble
turn up the treble
I am the rebel
now i'm at the level
where i am protected
i am the metal
that goes undetected
i am the chest
beneath the bulletproof vest
i hire the best
to prevent what bullets do best
this is a war
sample this score
sample this score
this is a war
and i am the floor
that never falls apart
i aim for more
so more aim at my heart
i go the distance
i go the distance
you are the force
I'm counter-resistance...

The Fallen

The dust from which we rise
feeds me the power
to slake the lust within her eyes
hour on the hour
for i am man
and therefore i can
spread an angel's wings
to see how close she brings
me to exploring the big bang...

is she my evolution?

look at her glow
her touch holds the solution
to puzzles my body doesnt even know

but when when flies
my heart dies and dies
for i am am man
and therefore still i stand
to look for her in the skies...

Your Ballad

The shadow of a man
can be crooked
so girl what you cookin?
am i your plan?
cos you're takin me where i've never been

Hidden island beach
undiscovered
coconut lovers
i'm in your reach
so open up and let me in

Cos when you drip your sweat
into my sweat
the feelings i get
are indescribable
with that one look
my whole world's shook
we write our own book
your love's a parable

I thought i knew
but i was mistaken
now that i'm wakin
up to you
the sun dont seem so far away

I feel brand new
you pulled me through it
with how you do it
wakin up to you
is how i wanna start my everyday

When you drip your sweat
into my sweat
there's no limit
i feel invincible
with that one touch
i become so much
its not just luck
your love's a miracle

so we can be drip, drip, sweatin
oh we'll go on drip, drip, sweatin
girl i love it when you're drip, drip, sweatin
onto mine....

The Art of Forgetting

There's a dark spot
that crawls inside every heartbeat
to pull me through time
that lifts me out of the rift
into eternal sunshine
to give me my ilfe back, life before truth
like a self-preservation mechanism
set off by an uncontrollable chain
of events that culminate in the shift of self
attuned to change
so once the saltiness of the tears
begin to stain my pillow
the safety switch detonates
to blot out curled up feet
summertime naughtiness and whispered intimacies
resetting the clock...

but enough.... enough now

A Plane Letter of Hope

I sometimes have thoughts about
hope everlasting: reaching ever starwards
to hug eternity
to relinquish uncertainty to heaven...
Loss overshadows victory, it negates glee
yet, overall undisputed,
hope abides supreme
breeding restoration over kingdoms, empires, nations
MEN even!-

...And that's all i had to say.

Saint Valentine

If i knew who i was
i might drown myself in liquor-filled buzz
for once you figured out the puzzle of me
saw beyond the blur of who i be
how could you stay?

A man once threw a pearl away
what if i threw a girl away?
would our love be confined to the shadows?
we swim like dolphins in the shallows
but once we drift to the deeper end
the facades wash away and i cant pretend
i cant pretend... deeper end...
the facades wash away and you're gone again

Girl, i tell you, if i knew
i'd drown myself in a bottle of glue
and find myself and stick to you
i'd drown myself where your heart once grew
for if you knew the truth of me
i'm afraid that truth would set you free
further and further into the sea
i'd drown myself so that you could be
and wash away cos i cant pretend
i'd wash away if you left again
i cant pretend... deeper end...
the facades wash away and you're gone again...

Lady In Waiting

You lie as an angel in peaceful slumber might
glowing with love
the grace of a dove
so peaceful i dare not turn on the light
so beautiful i wish i could kiss you goodnight
but those parts of me are still broken
and you are on the losing end
yet here you lie, waiting and hoping
that you you might pry those feelings loose again
I hate to be this guy
gathering my shit together in the dark...
you're dreaming of me cos you sigh
tired of me whoring out my body
when all you want is my heart
but you're healing me, i'm almost here
just give me one more day
tomorrow i'll love you without fear
just help me find the way...

you're glowing with love, your heart wide open
helping me fix those parts that were broken.

For Village girl

Warrior Woman Chapter 2

We're engulfed in a smoky silence
flames of failure licking at our fading silhouettes
I remind her, "No regrets"
but her eyes are too wise to buy into my sense
She draws me to her warmth, her voice steady
"You can't leave.... i'm not ready..."
So i kiss her as if the fate of the world depended on that kiss
that lustfully long-lasting liplock not to be dismissed as mere bliss
it does as was intended:
weakens her will until its unmended
a warrior woman submits to her slave
"Be strong, my love, and i'll be brave..."
Nothing after that need be spoken
we part ways in a cloud of dust
a warrior woman's will bent and broken
by the power of her love slave's lust...

Tears that drown the night... Chapter 1

She bathes me in a blend of mango extract,
potent herbs and coconut milk
her slender hands, like her whispered words,
are sewn from the finest silk
"Sleep.... rest.... safe.... home...."
Knees, breast, face, bone
she cleanses my spirit from within
humming in hypnotic rhythm
caresses me to sleep
but even in my dream
she hears me weep
tears that burn to the steam
in which we bask
cautiously she asks:
"Where are you lost?"
my silhouette starts to fade
"To love knowing the cost
of paying sins that go unpaid
is to sleep without relief
to steal, but hate the thief..."
from these words she wont recover
her tears would drown the night
but i take her hand, love her
and walk her to the light....

How to Love a Woman's Feet

If you build yourself a home in her eyes
grow wise
love her complete
love your woman by each strand of hair
to the soles of her feet
and every playful inch in between
even when she teases you or gets mean
just lay her down and love her sweet
love your woman through each breath of air
to each step of her feet

for if you took the time to look
beyond the cover and re-read the book
you would rediscover a love you forgot
a pair of feet shuffling,
“you still love me?.... or not?”

Superman Without You

There must be some hidden place
some secret serenity
where you might reveal your face
for i dont believe in angels

even though your eyes are oceans
so vast i can taste the wind
that strip my armour, leaving me open
yet never let me in

some distant place in the sky
where an angel might go to cry
i cant be superman without you
if this is love, i dont know why

Still Life

Fungal residue slides off the needy bark
oh! the withholding ways of the young heart
that have lost you to me
fully and truly
Is there mist in the air you breathe?
or do humming birds still choke on hope?
we wrote on clouds in which to believe
"love floats"
no... love soaks and drenches
suffocates you in its stenches
leaving you the allure of a carcass
yes, all the green fades
every still grass blade
cuts through your purpose
but what i really wonder
is: are you real?
or were you never?
the wind that blows thunder to change the weather
is nature at its most mysterious
Is this still life?

The most tiredest, man

Rollin down hills of Fallujah
there go the most tiredest, man
sweat, dirt, mud, blood,
heatin up, prayin it flood

Headin east by west
home is best
look, weep, drink, sleep
the most tiredest
too tired to dig six foot deep

Roll on....

Sudden drumbeat!!!
look alive, move your feet
hop, skip, jump, fly
the most tiredest
too tired to ask why

...but too tired for survival
tired of wrestling with life
as a rival
the most tiredest wait
drumbeat closes in
jump, hop, skip... not too late
but the most tiredest
too tired to be afear'd

drumbeat here

there go the most tiredest, man
roll, move, breathe... rest
Jah bless

Last First-kiss

When we first kissed on that third date
something inside said you'd always wait
and if you did complain that i was late
it wouldn't be cos you were mad
you'd be far more relieved than sad
all night waiting for me
anxiously stewing there
adorning my valentine's gift in your hair
diamonds in your eyes, lips of topaz
melting men's hearts with your jazz
but waiting only for me

I'd barely found my seat in the dark
when you drew me into your heart
by planting 1000 soft kisses across my face
if only Eden were such a place
where summer rain never felt so pleasant
and the future seemed to blur past and present
revealing my life as i wished it to be
no matter what, just wished you with me

And as our lips brushed
petals of delicate velvet crushed
sending this rush through my pelvis
softening steel, bending bone
sending me home...

when we kissed that night, at once i knew
that my last first-kiss had been with you.


To be in your arms every lovers' day, lady. There's your answer. JR.

Havana

Me nah float in space
nah, mi fly high
right up to de clouds
of Havana in de sky
say to de Lord,
"Nah look at my sins
mi umbilical chord
done chart where i been
so judge me, Lord,
mi heart is my king
open dem doors
and please let me in!"

but de Lord say, "No."
me never ask why
maybe if i cry
He gan' my tears dry
He say, "Go slow,
you not ready to die
spread love to da people
be My messenger guy."

and den de gates close
me never look back
for de Lord knows
i'll follow de right track
and wat i seen in heaven?
me never gan' tell
it dont matter how ya livin'
as long as ya live well.

How i'm winning you back

I rifle through my wallet
lookin for your number so i can call it
but i cant find it so fuck!
i'm basically stuck
like a leprechaun locked out of his Mack truck
i'm outta luck
that sucks
i know i should be over you
moving on like i'm supposed to do
but i cant
get this feeling in my pants
like when we used to dance
and just be together
thinking romance would be forever
you wouldnt believe i just wanna hold hands
cos thats sweet
you step on my feet as we slow dance
now i'm on repeat
wish i could write you some poetry
remember how you used to flow with me?
oh nostalgia, baby
i almost had ya, lady
tell you what:
cos i'm so cut
and this wound wont shut
how about you take me back?
be the poetry i lack...?...