Him

I saw him go into the toilet as I left, his hair freshly cut and pushed up away from his face, and for a second (and I promise it was just for a second) I thought about following him in there, catching his eye in the mirror as he washed his hands, and telling him I was on my way home.

For that second (and it really was just a second) I thought that perhaps he would look for me when he was done and I had left and my not saying goodbye would have said more than I had wanted, spoken volumes amidst the silence, closed the door shut on a life together where nothing would be left unsaid between us.

In the space between before and the reality of what it all actually was I wondered if he believed in signs and if he would think my leaving was some sort of cosmic force telling him not to bother.

For that second I loved him and he loved me back and the rest of it didn't exist at all.

Happy Valentine's Day y'all!

One last time, illustrated

26, illustrated

Faster Than Sound, New Perception EP Design

I designed and painted the EP cover for the Scandinavian SKA band Faster Than Sound. Here are the pictures of the finished EP which is on sale now. Check it out here.

Faster Than Sound, New Perception Front Cover

Back Cover

Inside. Please note my name. Twice.

One last time

It wasn't clear how his days would be
now he had climbed out from the inside
and left behind what was built from the ashes
of time that was never his.
He had grown stronger
than what had scared him then,
stuck between two versions of himself,
and with his hands gripped tight to each other
he closed his eyes,
counted five short breaths
and for one last time
thought back to when
even outside was too much.

From one to the next, onwards

I imagine it as a dog chasing its tail,
it running in great circles
until it was tired,
running still in spite of itself.
I should have stayed up until morning
watching it run
until the run became a whir
and I could hear time passing.
It was something different
and it didn't matter.

Christmas

The silence after was heavy with
the smell of clementines,
a souvenir left over
from the mornings joviality
and a cloying reminder of what had,
by now,
past;
like ants we sat in lines
as the air settled
and found its place back to where it started
and I knew then
that we all got lonely sometimes,
in spite of pleas to the contrary.

Angela Lansbury

It was almost as though
she were there again,
the room around her disappearing,
his voice melting like rice paper
on her tongue. 
Her mind danced back
to a life she had lived in lights,
one that now shone in her eyes,
and her mouth spoke the
words from her past,
a memory she had forgotten.

Christmas Party

He sipped through two glasses of wine
and poured one more as holiday music played
from the room next door
and filled the empty air with sugary sweet cheer.
He closed his eyes,
took a breath
and thought back to this morning,
before it all.
It hadn't snowed yet this year
and the bare streets outside the window
made his bones cold.