Poems.

I’m often writing poems and shooting photographs on 35mm film. I like to think that they’re both connected in some way - both trying to describe the small but important parts of my human experience. Here’s a selection of poems with photographs that I often come back to.

you, human
are only one person
but you experience the waves
of a thousand oceans
as if your boat has no anchor
and your sails catch many winds.
let the tides carry you
and the pull of the moon
take you
but do not let
the darkness
of that big wide ocean
swallow your sensitive
brave soul.
even in the coldest, busiest,
most confusing, terrifying places
you can still be
that bright star
travelling across time
moving through centuries
to be you
this one human
exhausted, but full
of life’s best (and worst) living.

[20th May 2021]

go home.
take yourself to all of the places
you know you need to go.
and when you’re there (or maybe just passing through)
remember to catch them:
the small moments
the way the light catches the
droplets on your washing line,
the shimmer of gold on the
cobwebs covering your windows
the favourite cup by the sink
never really clean for it’s always in use.
or maybe
it’s the swish of the trees
humming in time with earth’s winds.
the damp smell, water underfoot
as you traverse, seek, wander, observe.
the glitter you see in the tree tops
as the sun nears its end for the day
the way the birds fly closer
and closer to you in your own (their) yard.
go somewhere
and make it home
by noticing all the things you love
about being on this earth.