Silent treatment

I’m listening

but you keep it in

in the constant din

of this noise we’re in

The silence is deafening

and still you’re keeping it in

You got my head in a spin

when you say nothing

How we gonna win

if you keep it in? 

Steve Wheeler © 27 February, 2021

image by Nuno Martins

Broken souls

I want to hold you 

You want to hold me 

but we're separated by 

a sea of pain 

I would kiss you 

You would kiss me 

and our lives would never 

be the same again

The same sad story 

pain and glory 

with hearts so sore we 

could not find a way 

It's a constant 

kind of torment 

knowing we went 

our separate ways

I want to see you 

You want to see me 

but we're both too 

cold to feel 

I would touch you 

You would touch me 

if we thought 

our hearts could heal

The same conclusion 

there's no delusion 

no consolation 

to bestow 

We reach the end 

we cannot bend 

no way to mend 

our broken souls

Steve Wheeler © 28 February, 2021

image © Steve Wheeler

[Ever since Berlin]

[Ever since Berlin]

I’ve been calling you

Since we shopped in KaDeWe

I’ve been dreaming you

Strolling down Kurfürstendamm

or above a busy autobahn

you and I are there again

inside my mind

[Ever since Berlin]

Life’s been a mystery

I can’t seem to win

hope seems so lost to me

The Checkpoint Charlie blues

make me feel like I might lose

my smiling little muse

in the rain

[Ever since Berlin]

and the Brandenburg Gate

I’ve been mouldering in

a melancholy state

Are we going to the Wall?

Are we heading for a fall?

Are we going to lose it all?

Is that our fate?

[Ever since Berlin]

Ich liebe dich

I’ve been feeling pretty down

and I need a kick

So back there I will go,

sip some Glühwein in the snow

and I’ll dream of what we know

and you’ll be there

Steve Wheeler © 25 February, 2021

photo © Steve Wheeler 2020

Have you seen the moon?

Have you seen the moon?

Have you really looked?

A harsh mistress or a dainty maid

A balloon deflated and then remade

By day or night in light or in shade

A pockmarked elusive renegade

Have you seen the moon?

Have you really looked?

Have you seen the stars?

Have you really looked?

A string of iridescent beads

A shiny scattering of seeds

A glowing carpet on the breeze

and all the wonder that it breeds

Have you seen the stars?

Have you really looked?

Steve Wheeler © 25 February, 2021

image source

Yasmina

I just recorded a reading of one of my new poems for YouTube. Yasmina is about the friendship between a young Syrian boy and a his little friend - a farmyard hen. The poem is taken from my new collection of short stories and poems titled Small Lights Burning. You can check it out and purchase a copy on either Kindle or in paperback via Amazon. 

Winter sky

The winter writes a shroud 

and imposes its embrace 

upon a cold and grey-white 

landscape. A solitary bird 

flits lost below the cloud 

and as I turn my frozen face 

to gaze upon its lonely flight 

the sun appears. Absurd. 

Steve Wheeler © 13 February, 2021

image source

Dirty knees

Yesterday I announced the publication of my new poetry and short stories collection, Small Lights Burning. 

Below is a poem from the book to give you a taste of what to expect if you buy it. 

This is a poem called Dirty Knees.

Dirty knees and nettle stings 

Climbing trees and angel wings 

Trousers ripped and growing pains 

Seaside trips and daisy chains 

Listening to Slade with sherbet dips, 

lemonade, newspaper wrapped chips 

Mars bars and Pick 'n' Mix, 

Matchbox cars and Scalextric 

Lunchtime bells, cold outside loos 

Desktop ink wells, new school shoes 

Silly nicknames, monster munches 

Playground games and packed lunches 

Moon rockets, ice cream van 

Sand filled pockets, Action Man 

Top of the Pops and Airfix glue 

TV cops and Doctor Who 

Space hoppers, Meccano sets 

Teeny boppers, cuddly pets 

Marble scrambling, Noddy lamps 

Weebles wobble, swapping stamps 

Paraffin heater, skipping ropes 

Blue Peter, Kaleidoscopes 

Spirographs and Etch-A-Sketch 

Lots of fun with Armstrong (Stretch)

Muddy knees and foolish ways 

Buzzing bees and endless sunny days 

Fields of corn and buttercups 

Trousers torn but slowly growing up

Steve Wheeler © 12 February, 2021

In the UK Small Lights Burning is available here:

Amazon UK: Paperback £6.99 Kindle £1.99 

The book is also on sale at the following worldwide locations including:

Australia: Kindle A$3.99 Paperback A$21.76

Brazil: Kindle R$13.61

Canada: Paperback C$11.99 Kindle C$3.49

France: Kindle €2.69

Germany: Kindle €2.69

Italy: Kindle €2.69

India: Kindle ₹195

Japan: Paperback ¥1099  Kindle ¥277

Mexico: Kindle $52.60

Netherlands: Kindle €2.69

Singapore: Paperback S$13.45

Spain: Kindle €2.69

Turkey: Paperback TL68.10

USA: Paperback $9.99 Kindle $2.99