So pleased my poem ‘What Lies Beneath’ below is included alongside many fine poets in this latest Writers’ Cafe Magazine on the theme of ‘masks’. Thank you to editor Marie Lightman for another excellent collection 🙏

What Lies Beneath

Fear embedded in fairy tales
the face disappointment might pull
healing hiding inside a bruise
pain erased by a mother’s kiss
poker players’ blank canvas
language spoken only by eyes
car showroom repertory theatre
intention veiled behind a smile
politicians’ buttressed egos
the dead weight of beliefs
anamorphic dream symbols
the innocence of quicksand
chameleon Pantone camouflage
pine-coned floor beneath evergreens
cloud-discoloured blue sky
blanket fog that haunts urban nights
placebo’s magic deceit
faith, hope and propaganda