MARTIN WARDLEY

He tries to make ends meet He tries to salvage pride He tries to stay afloat He tries to stay alive He wears another layer He eats what...

The calming, steady hand of sobriety For days and weeks and months Holds and comforts Soothes and cools Dilutes the cruel Guiding the...

The bronzen dale lay bathed Lit gold by the late-day sun Wonderfully, Gloriously swathed While the light warns of night-time to come The...

His broken heart won’t mend But he’s laying down foundations To simply walk again With lowered expectations One foot before the next Is...

Risk sits in twisted conflict With safe secured stability She elicits wondrous opportunity And delicious possibility Permitting dreams to...

When the ego of men Time and again Take hold of their actions And souls There’s no place to hide And little respite When the outcome of...

The words on a wind whisper in Voices familiar herein Of family, friends and of home Who trouble the blood and the bone These companions...

Bobble-hatted football-coaching Shouting from the side-lines Lucky socks in howling gales And dismal, calamitous score-lines From whence...

I buttoned my coat to the cold As the man of God spoke his words Words lost to the wind whipping in Words lost to the incoming rain As...

It didn’t quite happen I didn’t quite make it I wasn’t nearly fast enough I wasn’t nearly good enough I didn’t possess the skills I...

Minging and priceless Miserable and precious Frozen and warming Repetitive and transforming Draining and fulfilling Focused and thrilling...

He told me of our fate She impressed on me to cogitate: By decisions and by actions We fall or we will elevate To hide our lies may tempt...

Wanton Fabrication Gross manipulation Clearly exploitation Under watchful eyes Just another layer of lies Clear misrepresentation Driving...

Excess which breeds excess The more without the less A joyous brawl at best At worst desire to be addressed Pointless resolution To...

The ladder leaning lonely ‘Gainst the whitewashed wall Leads purposefully to nowhere Nowhere at all Like a solitary elder statesman...

New now to you and new to me too New for the many, new for the few New way to reconcile, new way to view New time to measure the lies and...

Like a relationship neglected It was just as I suspected Once rekindled it would be As if it never skipped a beat These walls bleed deep...

Having a breather Taking a break Downing tools Away from the ignorance of fools A little respite A short sojourn Rest n recoup Rise from...

Rusty trees And ochre leaves Denuded boughs And fading greens Yellows, reds And those between Seasons turn While Summer flees An icy...

It’s not what I do It’s what I am It’s not the metrics The measurements The likes or the streams It’s not these gorgeous, gorged Or...