An AU; a civilisation isolated by a wall.

What kind of tree grows from roots in such shallow soil?

Pick a memory, any memory, I would pick you.

I wander where I'm going and if we'll meet again.

The stars are in pain tonight; only you and I can hear them scream.

I had a home which came with me even when I was alone.

Beneath a knife-lit ceiling, I watch the rest of my son.

I once had a child with eyes of tomorrow.

I watched her through the jars of sunlight she kept on the wall.

I'm writing to keep a promise. And that's where you'll laugh – because I don't keep promises. I made promises to you, to Adrian, to Pauline, and I broke every one. I have one promise, though, and that one I won't break. Even I couldn't betray a dead man.

My final thought.

She trudged down an unknown road, boots heavy with dust from the journey, eyes fixed on her feet.

Isla takes a job to teach three unruly princes how to become kings - but what is waiting for her in the kingdom of Kirry-Kaily?

Life moved past me a little faster than I expected.

But I never foresaw that I could lose you as a friend.

London riots, August 2011 - as my country burns I can do nothing but watch and hope.

Cecily had gone to bed as a beauty and awoken as a monster.

I've had enough of lies.

Weddings, children, grandchildren - pinned as pictures around our walls.

I built up a wall of smiles that stretched to forever.

Picture a land: the skies are soft pink and the trees are vibrant purples and reds. But beneath this land lies dark secrets, and Elsie, only a girl in a flower shop, finds herself suddenly pulled into them.

But what's the point?

You barely even look at me anymore when we meet.

The touch of your hand is a gentle brush of barbed wire.

Scowling from your bar stool, you wonder.

But is it too late?

I forgot myself for five seconds today.

Less than you and lesser still with every step.

It's nearly midnight, and I here I am, waiting.

This is the truth.

The cracks are not in flesh and bone, but in mind and soul.

This is all I know.

We're atop the slippery slope.

You are gone; I am alone.

I'll start now to gradually move my things out of the home we've shared.

Birth dies - it cannot breathe between these layers of sickness.

People don't understand me and you.

It can't hurt more than this waiting for signs.

You lie to me every day with empty words and emptier kisses.

You'd think each step would lead me closer.

St Violet's School offers few chances for non-classical musician - Martin's attempt to beat the system ends up with the rock-band guitarist conducting an orchestra...

Ah well - we'll just have to wait until we're allowed.

It was like you had died to my small town imagination.

In a while we'll have take in all.

I need you to physically be here.

A poem is more personal than a diary - so only strangers can see it.

Those three little words are too easy to say.

Tear-stained cheeks and clothes too tight to breathe in.

It doesn't seem right on anyone but you.

I've always been a splinter in your side.

There's a ribbon on my pencil case to remind me of you.

The bells yell out some heartfelt cry.

A collection of poems written on the theme of being far from home.

We sit in silence, completely still.

It's suddenly struck me that we won't last.

I wish I could miss you a little bit less.

You send my mind spiralling, but I'll never be quite good enough for you.

I slap on a label and package them off.

As pretty as the sound might get, it still won't mean anything.

You used to be so careful, but today you made a mistake.

I thought we were flying higher than the sky itself.

You said you would call.

Today I heard your heartbeat for the first time.

When my mind is tangled like wires, I put it down in pen so I can calmly forget.

Eyes and rhymes and pretty enjambments.

Your simplicity is complicated and is complicating my thoughts.

The haunting shadows of yesterday dance colours round my mind.

She never understood why the way he held her hand could make her feel quite like that.

Who cares for the thoughts of a rose?

I want to fall in love with you, and honestly I try.

You wonder why I'm hesitant to talk to you.

I shake off the serenity and continue to pretend to live.

Cows lies down when rain is approaching - and they lay down the day you died.

If you were here I'd accept defeat with my head held high

I keep waiting for something to go wrong.

I once knew a quiet boy - then he picked up a guitar.

All I want and need and love is you.

You knock me back and crush me.

Why is it so important to you that we should not know happiness?

I don't know how much more of this I can take.

Every stage of my life is in preparation for the next.

All you seem to see is a non-existant angel.

A weak sun rises over scattered cars.

I can't find the compromise.

They clearly aren't coming back - but they will come back.

Just because I am a girl does not mean I want to wear pretty dresses.

Johnny met Angie and the world fell to pieces.

Sometimes I hate you the most of all.

I wait all night, but you never ring.

I was always known as the girl who didn't feel the cold - until I met you.

Because you can't be summed up in words.

Once her eyes were a sparkling blue - but she had to have that boy.

A simple love story and a complicated misunderstanding.

Don't say it; you don't mean it.

Just make the clueless spectators shut up.

We're kidding ourselves, pretending this could work.

Nothing makes sense anymore.

I swore I wouldn't let you get the better of me this time.

I remember the day that I first saw you.

As I sit swinging my legs over the side of the shelf, I tell myself not to be daft.

The world goes topsy turvy with every word you say.

But it just carried on with life - the day you died.

The darkest hours; the coldest night; the loneliest day.

Molly waited, but Daddy didn't come home.

Tomorrow I'll forget you - but today, you can be everything.

When I said, "Say what you mean," that's not what I meant.

Half the stuff I say to you I don't mean. Sorry.

With you each day is a second.

Blank stares, blank faces - a short poem about lessons that never seem to end.

Poems are meant to be bleak...

I'm not strong enough to forget you.

I don’t believe in love at first sight. But he did, and that was enough.

For those days when you switch your iPod on shuffle and, right there - that's your day down in lyrics.

A poem about meeting someone who blows you away, but not having the nerve to say the things that need to be said.

When something changes in a friendship, do you acknowledge it or just carry on?

Poppy waits in the waiting room as her world falls apart, hidden by the masks of a grown-up world.

A young girl learns the hard way that we aren't all treated the same - this was an exam piece I did, and it's based loosely on a real event.

A quick poem about how sometimes we turn the mountain of war victims into a molehill of statistics

Did you ever consider the pain that you'd cause?