Charlie Wood
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I'm Charlie. Human. Facilitator. Activist. Therapist. Student of Life. 


Touching Death

3/10/2024

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Audio Version | Song Credit: The Earth Prelude by Ludovico Einaudi

I was thirteen
When she first
Let me touch her

Years of torment
The dark veil
Came knocking early
On this hearts door

Something about scales
Of deserving
About babies
Who weren’t born equal

​Incessant whispers
Sewing invisible tapestries
Of guilt and shame
Into the nucleus
Of every cell

Year upon year
It Corrodes the heart
Displacing everything
And everyone into
A head so fucked up
And desolate
No creature would
Ever wish to live there

Reduced to a macabre circus
Of circuits and patterns
This body
Moves about landscapes
Here but not here
There but not there

Yet some small pocket
Of it
Still Longs for
Still craves for
The divine

Like a seedling
Buried deep in the soil
This ravaged
Bodily architecture
Is searching
for the light

It comes by the side
Of the M15
In the belly
Of a fluorescently lit
Medic van

Everything
And everyone
Completely quiet
Caught for a tiny moment
In their infinitude

Heart holding it all
She reaches out
And strokes my hand

A tunnel
A light
So bright and soft
It could cut a path home
For every star
in every galaxy

The absence of wrong or right
No need for good or bad
Just pure
Everything

A vessel filling
and filling
And filling
with the thing
It was always missing
But never knew
Until it is time
to come back

To find a way to live here
To find a space
free from pain
In the land of
Being alive
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Long Goodbyes

3/10/2024

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Audio Version  | music credit: I Love You by Riopy
The day that
Time was strangled
Bark unfurled itself
From ancient trees
And the moon
Turned black

Breath caught
In barbed wire
Lost to the lungs
That birthed it

In a few words
Child becomes adult
Heart squeezed
Into a conscious
Kind of oblivion

Soft young body
Now rigid and old
Hands white knuckling
Their way, away
From home
Or was it ever really?

Look through windows
At faces of other children
In homes of other families
But always…Remember to Forget

Then let the elements
Become your eternal guardian
As birds fly backwards
In fifty-two shades of purple sky

As nothing becomes everything
As dreams and reality
Switch places
And all the colours
Sing their long goodbyes.
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Alone

6/25/2023

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Alone, 
Oh…
Is this 
how death feels?

Swimming 
In an eternal sea
Of Nothing

Heart ripped from chest
Nothing to feel
Eyes wide shut
Nothing to see

Reach into the void
Of Blackness
But there’s no one 
To reach back 

Only the empty echo 
Of something 
Less hopeful 
Than despair

Falling
Forever falling 
No one to catch you
No one who even 
Knew you fell 

What’s the genesis 
Of unlovability?
And is there a bridge 
From that to this?

Give me hands 
To strike the match 
That burns that bridge 

Give me rage to 
Light a fire 
In my belly
So wild and free

It takes me 
Backwards
And Forwards
And Sideways

To somewhere
That’s not this

Takes me into
A Feeling of 
Something

Takes me Away 
From this  
Dark & Hollow
Alone
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Lovelessness

6/6/2023

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How do you comprehend 
The wounds of lovelessness?

A pain that leaves no trace
Only shadows that torment

To birth belonging
One must first 
Sit with its lack

Let the sorrow seep
Deep into your heart

Let the unspoken years
Of lost childhood
Talk to you
Let them make you cry

Reach for a person
Who isn’t there 
And never was 

Reach right into the void
Let the tragedy inside
It’s been at the door 
For oh so long

Let it All in
Take your time

And then
When you’re done
Look the child
That you were
In the eyes

Peer into your soul
And remind yourself
That you survived.
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Loneliness

10/7/2021

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A hollow heart
Within the hollow 
Of a tree,
I sit

Around me, 
The forest 
Teams with life

But I have become
Its opposite

Past pain 
Numbs 

The Forest
Heaves 
Breathes
Life for my lungs
Love for my heart

But there is no one
Here to receive it

In solitude
Freedom awaits
In loneliness
Death stirs thickly.
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Over-Examination

8/30/2021

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I am a free spirit
Or am I?
What lies inside me?
Am I dark 
Or am I light?

I used to move 
Through this world
Like a dove
Loving it all
Not overthinking
Floating 
In a warm current
Of gentle intuition

Things just were
One way
Or another

Softly moving
Nothing jarring
Everything working
The Way It Was Meant To Be

Until the sky became black
Knowing became nothing
And over-examination
Everything

Life beneath the microscope
Every decision 
Forensically examined
Every thought 
Analysed 
And over-analysed
Every feeling judged

Small facial expressions
Might make or break you
Use of one word or another
Revealing 
Your True Nature

Every cell, and fibre 
Thought and nerve
A delicate rain drop
That could be crushed
In an instant
And change 
The course 
Of Everything

Tip toe forever now
This land is made 
Of egg shells

Speak softly now
This world is an
Eternal china shop

Your voice might
Hurt those 
Around you

Don’t stand out 
From the crowd now
Someone might hurt you
Or hate you
Poisoned 
Forever 

Place your face 
To the mirror
Of Judgement

Look at yourself
Change yourself
Understand yourself
Analyse yourself

Think about 
Every step
You take
Every decision 
You make

Do nothing 
Without thinking
About it
Over and over
And over again

Til your mind 
Becomes a ferris wheel
In free fall 

Til every option 
has been Exhausted
Every stone turned
And turned 
Worn down
Into nothing

Til there is 
Nothing
Left of you
To be examined
Anymore.
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Breath

8/23/2021

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I hold my breath
To hold the world

Envelop it in my chest
Protect it from 
Everything that wants
To corrupt and
Hurt it

I hold my breath
Like an armour
Against the pain 
Raging around me

A fortress 
Of strength 
And solitude

I hold my breath
Without thinking
Like second nature

Just to be
For a moment
Outside of everything

A pause in time
To not think
Not feel 
Anything

I hold my breath
When I don’t know
What else to do
What else to say
How else to feel

Like pressing pause
On a movie
That is moving
Far too fast

I hold my breath
When the suffering
Gets too much

The hold lets me 
Float above it
And see things
From a different view

I hold my breath
When I can’t think

Because the voices
In my head
And all around me
Have become too loud

I hold my breath 
In anticipation of 
The worst 
Even when there’s
No objective reason
To fear

But then I can’t 
Hold it in anymore

My lungs go soft
The air comes rushing out
My body melts 
Into the surrounds
A little more

And then
I must surrender
To the world.
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6am

7/21/2021

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The alarm screams
Each beep
Cutting a painful
Incision into my brain

I reach for my phone
Through the cold and dark
To shut off 
That piercing 
Soul-destroying
Sound

Get up!
My mind screams
Get up 
Now!

My body becomes
A tight elastic band
Eyes previously fairy lights
Are now lamps

Heart racing
Mind revving
It’s 6am and 
I am already 
Behind

The cogs in my head
Are spinning 
At too many miles per hour

Clanging, whirring, banging
Against my skull
My head hurts
As I wake to the reality
Of this life

I sit at my desk
And open up 
Pandora’s box
A million tabs
A billion unread messages
A trillion emails that
Need a response
Now

My chest is pounding 
Shoulders rising

A sip of dark
Black coffee
The heat warms my chest
The steam and aroma
Fill my nostrils 

A moment of calm
My heart slows briefly
As the caffeine 
Seeps into my blood

And then
Everything rises at once
Like an orchestral crescendo

Heart pumping harder
Lungs expanding like 
A hot air balloon filling with heat
The veins in my forehead
Pulsate like a
Beat boxer
Rocking a baby in a crib
So it can do 
What it has to do today
Without even feeling it

Back and forth
Back and forth
The momentum in my body
Takes over
My mind takes a backseat

All the reasons not to be here
Not to be doing this
Not to be scraping 
From the depth of my soul
To eek out another day
Of backbreaking work

All the reasons not to think of
The million shattered neurons
That will eventually collapse
And bring me faster to death 
Than I should have arrived

All of the reasons not to
Keep doing this bullshit
Are gone
And I am at one
With the absurdity
And destruction
Of it all.
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Shame

6/8/2021

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Shame, you thrive
In the shadows
Pulse in the silence
Of our dark 
And troubled minds
Quietly strangling
Our calm 

Joy never had time
To set roots before
You spread your 
Cancerous tentacles
Squeezing and suffocating
Everything that is Good

Gripping and clenching
Day by day, 
You dig us
Into a premature grave

Hiding our bodies
Our hearts and our souls
Taking us from the world
Whose hearts and understanding
Would send you drifting away
Into nothing but a distant memory
An imperceptible flicker
In the cosmos from whence
We came.
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Chasing Perfection

3/10/2021

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Why do we chase things 
That don’t exist
Rather than embracing 
Our true selves
In all our messiness, 
And beauty

Are we not already perfect

Like a rose that smiles at the sun
Does it fret about its petals
Thorns and leaves
Or does it sway in the breeze, 
Knowing it is a part of life 
As it was meant to be?

Why do we seek love 
Where it cannot be found
Buy things that we do not need
Climb career ladders 
That take us to nowhere
But stress and sadness

What about the sea turtle 
Who swims through the salty sea
Does it not know its own majesty
Isn’t it aware of its happy place in the 
Universe of things

Does it not view the rainbow fish
Darting around its shell and belly
With admiration rather than envy

Why do we compare 
Ourselves with others
Knowing full well
This always makes us feel 
Less than who we are 
And the love that we deserve

That we all belong
That we’re all connected 
To one another
And the earth

Why do we look so harshly 
Upon every action we take
Telling ourselves the next will be better
When each action was as perfect 
As we could muster for then

As brave as our bodies and minds 
Would allow for now
Heaving beneath the weight 
Of all that the world 
Piles upon us 
Hour after hour
Day after day
Year after year

Why don’t we instead 
Learn from the trees
Who don’t judge 
The straightness of their trunks 
The smoothness of their leaves
The brightness of their flowers 
Nor sweetness of their fruits

Their bark is rough, 
Their branches break, 
Their leaves fly everywhere
Their fruit splatters over
Pavements and pastures
But their worth is not measured by this

Why don’t we smell the red ros 
Swim with the green sea turtle
Hug the great dark trunk 
Of an enormous tree
Knowing full well 
That we are perfect
Just the way we are
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    Charlie Wood

    Human. Activist. Facilitator. Therapist. Student of Life. Trying to do my bit to build a kinder world.

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