Perishing

I've known every kind of perishing damp -
Landscaped walls as though drawn by Seurat
in graphite black; forgotten, overshadowed
by other rooms bathed in a facade of colour.
I've known the quiet insipid tide which skirts
across floors to pinch clothes from cupboards
and turn bags of sugar into useless bricks.
Survived the sneaky damp which does not show
its face but slips a musty smell between books -
eating words and rendering them worthless.
I've always fought to keep it at bay, but sometimes
given in, allowed it to slip between my sheets
to destroy any warmth that may end its rising.

Aim to Fail

Aim to fail, you may fail well
it's better than succeeding badly.
Don't be content with mediocrity,
take a hit - be the one who never made it.

There's no harm trying to get it wrong
maybe you'll be right all along.
Aim to be the one who goes too far
aim to be better than you really are.

Grow too big for boots too large,
be the one who falls facedown flat.
Do something which you know you can't.

Hazel Buchan Cameron was born and brought up in Renfrewshire and lived in Perthshire for over 25 years, where she worked as a farm secretary before moving to North Yorkshire. She sometimes feels as though she lives on trains, as she now habitually travels between Yorkshire and Scotland.

Hazel administers the Scottish Pamphlet Poetry website and performs her poems with Lippy Bissoms.

The author of four poetry pamphlets including The Currying Shop (2007), which was joint winner of the Callum Macdonald Memorial Award in 2008, Hazel also writes stories, which have appeared in Mslexia and on BBC Radio Scotland.