(Ed note: We are pleased to bring Paul Tristram’s work out for a second time! Today we present five tremendous works, and we hope you enjoy them as much as we do–The Eds.)

Slashed Tyres

Once you Conquer

… ‘Solitude’…

everyone becomes

‘Expendable’,

even ‘Disposable’.

That’s Power

and Freedom

… and (Absolute)

‘Self-Control’…

I do not even flick

fingers anymore…

nor stoop to argue

with those I’m

about to Reward

… with an (Entire)

Lifetime of Silence.

© Paul Tristram 2026

Unchartered (Inner) Waters

… So, after a ‘Lifetime’

of being Guarded…

how did that Feel?

Sorry, I’ll wait a while,

you’re still shuddering

… that kinda ‘Smiling’

is New, you look…

(Absolutely) Beautiful.

I know, super sensitive,

… but I was just

reaching out to light

another bedside candle.

Nuh, I’m not gonna

stop looking at your

Fresh (Maskless) Face.

I can’t put into words

the ‘Change’… you’re

Aglow, and making

me spill my Emotions,

whilst rush-talking

myself back…

from the (Very) Edge

which your Soul just

Springboard Dove Off!

© Paul Tristram 2026

Autonomous

(Become The Centre Of Your Own World First)

That ‘Emotional’ Autopsy

… there are cold winds

beating a path

to your Soul.

Vermin and Vexation

and a Crone-Hag’s Sneer

… away from the Fire

you Cower and Groan.

“You want more

of Spring?

Yet, it brought you

nothing but Winter!

‘They’ are not more

Lucky than you

… ‘They’

just do not Care…

you want too much,

‘Love’ is Deceptive.”

Empty that ‘Longing’

out yourself…

fill it with Light,

Mind-Nutrition,

and Independence…

let ‘Affection’

… Seed and Vine…

in Conditions Wholesome.

© Paul Tristram 2026

Perpetual ‘Healing And Growth Stages’ When You Pioneer

The very moment that you ‘Let Go’

you start Healing…

still going to Hurt for a while,

but a Shift has taken place

deep within your Psyche…

the road to Recovery is tricky.

‘Barriers’ and ‘Boundaries’

are two completely different things,

and ‘Intuition’ can be ignored

but never manipulated…

my ‘Mistakes’ made me this good.

As a child, I did not Rebel

purely out of mischief…

I wasn’t born to be a ‘Follower’,

I’m here to walk ‘Authenticity’ true.

© Paul Tristram 2026

You Absolute Beauty (I’m Rooting For Ya!)

Trial-Tested, and Victorious

in your Resurrection…

you’ve earned that Pride.

Emancipated from any

(previous) doubt…

weak folk break, quit,

give up the ghost…

strong people advance

and maintain… Eclipsing

their former self

before the Fire which tried

to destroy them… actually

Uplevelled them to Warrior.

You only lost

what you do not need…

freeing you completely

from people and places

which would merely

obstruct ‘Progress’ forward.

You’ll remember this time

as a ‘Growth Period’…

and smile like a Winner

at the grace and dexterity

you employed to ‘Master’ it.

© Paul Tristram 2026 (Header image provided by the author)

(Added Image by Christopher J Ananias)

(Note: This concludes our run of poetry by Paul Tristram. We hope to see more from him soon!–LA)

… when those mental Gallows shade the morning

greyer than the factory smoke of unfulfilled lives.

I saw an old man, shaking and sobbing

at the side of the street, one wrinkled hand

outstretched, downwards, at a Guillotine angle

… at the fresh, emotional roadkill there

“I told you that your ‘Heart’ would lead you here.”

Having a ‘Hole In Your Bucket’ is bad luck,

but, what’s more important is the… ‘Timing’.

“There’s only the ‘Cold Side’ of the Bed left!”

she screamed hysterically, again and again…

until everyone present ‘Frowned’ far too much,

and left her, to go and Learn how to better Manage

how to face their own internal Winter months alone.

You’re never selfish for Suffering,

unless you’re sharing it, trading ‘Ice’ for ‘Heat’

and draining the ‘Colour’ from another’s Welcome.

I never ‘Accept’ anything ‘Unpleasant’

… instead, I ‘Tolerate’ … like a Convict,

biding-his-time for the very first chance of Escape.

© Paul Tristram 2026

It was that ‘Wobble’

in her cagey voice

which first attracted

my attention…

then, I noticed

the depth of her

brilliant green eyes.

“The ‘Streets’ take

more than they give

… but, you’ve

retained a fraction

back beyond Reach,”

I smiled, connecting.

She focus-studied

my friendly face…

“You’re Switzerland,

no Judgement Gavel

… Shelly told me

about your ‘Gifts’…

and, I’ve come

here to Barter some

Empathy for Stories.”

© Paul Tristram 2026

I was not (Purposefully) ignoring you

… merely contemplating

Delacroix’s movement of colour.

That ‘Tree’, over to the left,

reminds me of the Grief

that elderly people keep to themselves.

I want an entire day without questions

… to breathe poetic music,

instead of spleen, out of my pores.

You’re lucky we can’t connect fully

… I’d destroy you with a gear-change,

before I’d even realised what I’d done.

We’ve lost the Red Telephone Boxes

… and the Urban Seagulls

have ‘Gang-Territoried’

the Sunday afternoon Park Duck Pond.

I can taste the word ‘Change’

… and it’s not like ‘old pennies’…

more uncomfortable like tiny ‘springs’.

Remember the last time we parted?

… the road got clumsy and heavier…

until the Rains of Fate

brought you back around into my Life.

© Paul Tristram 2026

Do not join the hordes

of those Dead

long before

they actually Die.

Even when Life

boxes you in stationary

keep moving forward

with your Mind.

And when Hope

seems Pointless

or Evasive…

that’s when, in fact,

you need it Most.

Although Today

is dark and sinking…

drowning-man Cling

onto the Magic

possible in Tomorrow.

© Paul Tristram 2026