My childhood was both sour and sweet,
Sour because I lived with two mothers who were immiscible liquids,
Sour because of sibling conflict and strife,
Sweet because my brother and I enjoyed the company of communal friends.
Growing up on Apple Avenue was a memorable experience,
There was a large field at one end,
It housed a public school,
There were vendors on the field who sold indigenous confections,
My brother and I were their loyal customers,
There was a tree on the field that barely had leaves even during the rainy season,
We were told different mystical tales about the tree.
The highlight of one of the evenings was a bicycle race,
Chopper versus BMX,
The race was about which bike was faster,
In the maiden race, my brother was a few metres ahead,
The Chopper rider committed a foul,
He collided with the rear wheel of my brother’s bicycle,
My brother’s bicycle tumbled and he sustained injuries,
It resulted in a fight between rival groups.
The bicycle race was on hold for a long time.
September 25, 2026.
THE CARNIVAL'S WIRE
She had fallen
She had tired
The haze and heat
Through hoops of fire
She held her breath
Her foot gave way
Feather by feather
She tumbled away
The crowd beneath
The high and narrow
The shouts, the cheers
A kissed thrown flower
One foot poise
Balance the other
She had fallen
The carnival's wire
Drifting in and out of consciousness
On the verge of oblivion
A distant rumble
Tumbled
Into
Existence
It rolled through the valley
And then promptly
Disappeared
Into
Silence
The creatures of the night
Stood rooted in place
Gazing up at
The sky
Into
Darkness
As if sensing an audience
The rumble tumbled
Back into being
BOOMING
Into
Action
Most creatures scattered for shelter
While others huddled in awe
Listening, anticipating
Her awesome
Entry
Into
Revelry
She did not disappoint their attentions
Splashing light in thunderous
Pauses of violent display
Hurling white hot
Bolts of energy
Like spears
Of drama
Into
Mindfulness
Her booming joy threatened to bring
Down the house before, as if
On queue, she eased back
Drenching the valley
At curtain call
Lulling her
Audience
Back
Into
Oblivion
©?2026TaraHicks
Wheelsong Books Ambassador to South Africa
In Support of Save The Children
And Invisible Poets everywhere
Summer, with warmest
Of benignant wills
Full-faced, with a gladdening
Dawn to dusk, unquenched
There, each, if sea- tumbled drenched
What as flushed instils.
Of which coastal heat
Enveloped, once wooed
Its cliffed heights, the loner's urge
Blown further along
There, down there, as clear, day-long
Thousands singly viewed.
anglesea vic.
Got a dirty room to broom
To make it spic, span, zoom
Tumbled on the greasy floor
Pale flew here, broom yore
Glad, a pretty nurse came to groom
She rummaged in the children's toy box, with a grin,
Found a little tube where sunshine tumbled in.
She spun the colored glass through to amber, gold and bright,
To let every broken feeling borrow some light.
As she turned the tube, dark blue was the hue.
Then yellow skipped and giggled by, changing the view.
Red sulked a while, then orange set it aflame,
And green forgot the reason it felt the same.
She shook the stars; they tumbled into the light.
A little mess of confetti became a small delight.
The gloomy shapes still waited in their place.
But sunshine found a laughing crease across their face.
Some hurts were sharp, as worries rolled around.
Yet every twist showed a different pattern to astound.
With golden surprises dancing through the blue-grays,
As the glass taught her new ways to brighten her days.
So suffering stayed—no trick could make it cease.
But the playful whirl of colors brought some peace.
As she watched, the whole room seemed to brightly glow,
With a child-like spectrum only the children know.
never over your
white-washed smile
words watered
with vibrant fragrance
fables
which filled my ear
linger clearly
as if they were now
shortly spoken
fateful flesh
fallen into nettle
&
burdensome briars
that since settled
at this whole heart
how had you found me
was I a litter of scrabble tiles
first, you spelled me
further, misspelled me
later, dispelled me
bad homme
burying sunlight
in bridal lace
& hollow vows
which vassalized me
chastised me
minimized me
& unmasked you—
solitary white
rose that bloomed
between those teeth
tumbled
& withered swiftly
in the wayward wind
never over your
basilisk-breath
black velvet tongue
threatening my life
scrambling joints
ruining sweat & tears
as every pore runs
red
becoming a river of blood
-
a place I'd rather
not be
Days I remember , hope was gone
Gloomy were those days
shadowed with no element of hope'
faith lost
a day to recon, when,' mist was all i could see
hearts separated,
wishes'
above everything' or none
life given and chances thought a bay
but constant resilient and word
restored hope''
a memory worth living'
easily could have been swayed,
i chose character and life to live
moments of deep pain
tumbled with worry
a lesson 'within' and 'chance life'
The strong current twisted and turned,
So much so surely no man dare enter.
However newly inhabited in this devilish stream:
A school of ridged rocks tumbled by.
Among this school, rolled the most honed of them all.
As he rolled he noticed the dulling of his fellow rocks.
they tossed and turned as the river quickened their erosion,
However,
Different from the rest.
This rock was adamant on maintaining his unique edges.
Finally,
After seasons of resistance,
The school graduated to the shore.
Upon arrival the young rock looked to his mates,
To find that they had smoothed their irregularities,
And he was secluded from their congruence.
How sad do you think I truly felt,
When the rock struck her head?
She tumbled right over the cliff’s edge,
After all the blood we'd shed.
She broke my nose, she cracked my skull,
While playing the "best friend" part
All because I found a love
That she lacked in her own heart.
Such relief, isn't it?
I am but a paltry pebble
washed upon the lakeshore.
A tumbled piece of agate.
Simply that and nothing more.
I am but a mere grain of sand
raised from the seabed floor,
sodden from an ocean wave.
Simply that and nothing more.
I am but an insignificant human,
a dinky speck of dust; an eyesore
fleetingly alive upon the Earth.
Simply that and nothing more.
Wind rips her veins from a lost crumbled soul
barren in meadows grown old
fixated on a proven path
a past
watching the ice melt trickle
and all as well as it was
frozen within time
from heartbeats long ago
when words tumbled
seduced
from a golden chalice
eclipsed in an elixir of the sun
running off with the shadows
humming new found melodies
love blooming in the iris
life beaming abound
it was summer
as they did say
and she was know to wake at all hours
beheld in a bosom of bard
tunes we held tight
notes repeated in sultry serenade
smokey and cool
in a jazzed up funky way
day lit and the night burned
waxing the dripping moon
beheld in bones of those who bore forbearance
caressing a candor released
in the dark fortress of forbidden
a poem perhaps or not
we were to be
perchance set free
or forth
until all eternity
To say goodbye is simply not enough
When I think of years and memories we shared,
You were my knight in shinning armour
That night my world tumbled down around me
You stood beside me
You gave me the courage to know I would make it in the coming days
And for that I owe you in so many ways
And now I hear you're gone it can't be true
I can't believe you're gone
You were so much of my life long ago
I loved you more than ever could or would ever know
And now you have passed out of this time
Yet in my heart my brave knight
For that moment long ago you were mine
Snowballs met with red iron bullets
Someone
Has lost their compass
On the neighborhood streets of Minneapolis
The direction
Of wet splat on an officer’s back
To the metal response from a pistol splitting a windshield
Then a brain’s mesh
No one really knows
How the Albatross finds her way
Three times around the globe
Gliding on winds from one Pole to the other
What pulls her what pushes her
What power gets in her head
Ruffles her feathers and tickles her wings
Points her in one direction rather than another
It is to wonder
From the ice cold shale tumbled by glaciers
How she bares but one child every few years
While she shields with her feet and belly
A nest
From carbon bombardment
She can only fight with snowballs
Ducked under
By the President’s soldiers
Weighed down
With the oil and Crypto of Teflon vests cannisters badges radios
All our heads
The entire world
Spinning spinning out of control.
Mystery confounds at the G surrounds the pitch
Crumbled wickets tumbled so quick got a stitch
Far too spicy the unfair square did jar & bewitch
Russian roulette regret net humbled willow flitch
Was cricket’s largest grounds really the only hitch
Too dicey to try defence too pricey.. that's their pitch
Foolish pretence was hatched by players who snitch
Curator of this thatched turf was the ghoulish glitch
Moderator of surf the scorched earth torched must ditch
Batters so dismal no in abysmal nick will still bit*h
Madhatters trick they must scratch that ersatz itch
Say only way they will play gotta just flick the switch
Stats are for prats.. the caveat everyone bats kitsch
So to just then pick on the pitch.. well it is a bit rich!
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