I have always collected paintings

Always on the lookout for another piece

Something to go there

Next to the door

I have pictures of women

Their backs turned

Japanese ink drawings

Of cranes

I have splashes of colour

That mean something different

Each time I see them

I have scenes of desolation

And of hope

I have idyllic cottages

Crumbled apartment blocks

I have watercolours

Of the deepest oceans

And jet black prints

Of the most desolate space

I have handprints of my daughter

And the suicide notes of those I have lost

Everything imaginable

Covering the walls

Trinkets to amuse myself with

Plasters to forget