Power of authority

To the power that is bestowed upon us,

forgo fear as questions may be asked of you

As power gives no absolution

Guilt creeps in through the holes,

setting up residence as a resolute companion

Until judgement too comes to knock

For the answer may not be yours to hold 

springing from the seemingly unlikely

Hold tight to the power to empathize

May reciprocal respect be the answer for a new day

as corruption may lay in ruins to mark past dues

Truth will never be clear in the arrogance that is assumption

Handle with care a focus to heal all that are broken

Passing by pains fondness to blind us all

As a healing hand reaches out for restorative justice

So that no more silent victims may weep

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Power of authority speaks to the ethical burden of power — insisting that empathy, accountability and restorative justice must stand where arrogance, corruption and unchecked judgement once ruled.

Saying no

The thing that must be said

The answer that must resound

The explanation that will not follow is profound

For good company knows good reason

Do not tangle in the web,

of two stories told overhead

For nobody listens and everybody speaks

The retrospect reveals all reason

I am them and they are me

 A fight I will not incite

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Saying no speaks to the quiet strength of refusal — recognising that dignity, self-knowledge and restraint can be more powerful than argument in a world crowded by noise and projection.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.

Misfit

There is a time and place I am told

Out of time and in the wrong place

Fits like a glove of mine

A misfit of convention

Forming my own line

For the piece of mine, that is sublime

This lone dancer finds her rhythm

I will not compromise to conjecture

That it is not fashionable,

To wear it on the sleeve

In the times that no fit is found, farewell

With a blessing and a smile while I walk a mile

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Misfit speaks to the freedom of self-definition — embracing nonconformity not as failure, but as a quietly assured way of moving through the world with integrity and style.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.

A moment of clarity

The scene is empty at a glance

Rituals rule the day

Given way to fast-paced plays,

unimpressive ways

The heavy blanket 

threatening to suffocate

Then the noise intrudes

A welcome moment?

The clouds clear

for the clarity is unexpected

Please move on now 

peace is now realised within

Silent thoughts of the not so lonely

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. A moment of clarity speaks to the sudden arrival of inner stillness — that rare break in the pressure of routine where peace emerges unexpectedly and the self can finally hear its own quiet truth.

Further perception

Only ever a single part of the whole

Take a looking-glass view of another

Conscious thoughts move mountains

Alternative energy obtaining nourishment

Leading forecasters obligations are bound

Encouraged fights are false pretences

Do not fall to separate isolation

What cannot be held by one,

must too be freed from another

Cooperation is the insight of foresight

For power shared eludes corruption

Balanced out segments unify making whole

Never walked in your shoes,

this I know from quiet contemplation

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Further perception speaks to the moral and imaginative power of seeing beyond the self — suggesting that humility, cooperation and shared responsibility are what make a more whole and less corrupt world possible.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.

The social experiment

Take away the scales

Add a boy and a girl

Place one in front of the other

Blind the boy with sugar

Tie the girls hands

Bake the boy in golden sunshine

Beat the girl down and leave to rise

Measure only the material

Add judgement to the girl

Add praise to the boy

Discard cause and effect

Walk away from the results

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. The social experiment speaks to the manufactured nature of gender inequality — exposing how praise, restriction and bias are unevenly assigned, then falsely treated as proof of natural difference.

The rise of hope

Awakened by a fresh day of hope

Pass the shovel I have to dig

A daydream beckons me out

As I dare to defy the legacy of my flesh

Sweat and tears pass the day

 The time has come

I’m getting out of here…

I shed divine depths of despair 

I hand you back to whom you belong

Travelling now under my own direction

The ghosts are gone and the path is clear

One deep breath and the journey begins

It couldn’t be that easy could it?

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. The rise of hope speaks to the difficult courage of beginning again — the moment despair loosens its hold and a self-directed future comes into view, however uncertain the first step may be.

Sorrow

When the sun is shining bright

but all seems lost

muscles tire and give way

Is this how the cycle begins?

If only the movements could stop

so the rawness could heal

For every breath now feels a momentous task 

 and a step is a leap into depths unknown

Shattered into oblivion…

the pieces will never go back the same

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Sorrow speaks to the physical and emotional disorientation of grief — that shattering inward experience in which even ordinary movement becomes difficult and the self is altered beyond easy repair.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.

Friendship is…

At times a joyous moment to share

At times a hand to steady the trembling

At times an adventure to hold in the heart

At times a silence for words that cannot be spoken

At times a teacher of priceless value

At times a vessel to stay afloat

At times a land far apart with connections of the heart

At all times the even ground on which we stand

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Friendship is… speaks to friendship as one of life’s steadier forms of grace — a bond that offers joy, refuge, guidance and quiet mutual recognition across both closeness and distance.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.

Lines and layers

New eyes wide open to clear lines

boundaries optimistically balanced to ricochet lessons learnt

Then the blur as growth spurts

flushed cheeks ensuing rebellious standoffs

It is never clear in those murky waters,

that jolt and jostle a stirred sense

As if at any moment one may drown

as the flow takes control one more is lost

As an etched story accumulates

lines will be crossed in silence

But layers speak a deafening betrayal

as survival dictates all will succumb

So do not fear what is fate

do not turn away, step forward

Leave the baggage on judgment’s door

and bask in wisdom’s light

- Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Lines and layers speaks to the hard-won wisdom that emerges through growth, rupture and survival — revealing how the marks we carry become less a source of shame than a record of endurance and deeper seeing.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.

To love another

A path lined in roses

thorns tearing at vulnerabilities

love is not the easy road

only travelled by those who dare to lose

Keys cut by the stars

fitted by constant compassion and compromise

a journey to last all of eternity

loving with courageous abandon

Filling my cup to capacity

toasting to love…

unconquered, uncensored and unarmed

Forever more held in my heart and soul

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. To love another speaks to love as an act of courage — a bond shaped not by ease, but by vulnerability, compassion and the willingness to remain open despite the risk of being undone.

Behind the facade

Oceans swell as lifestyle sells

The bare and barren truth lurks

An imagined Photoshop collage

Draws weary as deliveries stop

Where are you my dear old friend?

The one I knew so well as a child

Take me home…

to the birds that sing,

to the trees that whisper

and the flowers that bloom.

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Behind the facade speaks to the loss concealed beneath modern lifestyles — mourning a world of natural intimacy and simple belonging that has been obscured by spectacle, consumption and disconnection.

Blush

Hereditary flush of humility

all eyes on you now

building intensity to participate

popular beliefs misunderstood embarrassment

Forced into an unfriendly world

taken from the peaceful place of observation

social conformity an awkward arousal

loud voices rise in fits of cruel laughter

how easy it must be to divert attention

safer to lie in criticism

then answer to the uncomfortable

Growing pains of the introvert

centre stage holds no allure

a preference to think first, speak second

scarlet red the identifying mark,

of the warmhearted soul

~ Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut collection of contemporary poetry, which received critical acclaim upon its release.

It is also available as a contemporary art print, produced on textured recycled card.

A poem to brighten the day

When the day is grey

Take heart that

The rain will come

And the garden will grow

It has always been this way

Since the beginning of time

That these times will pass

So new seeds will sprout

Stronger and more resilient

There is peace in this knowing

That these times of turmoil

Can make tomorrow a brighter day

If you will stay

~ Camille Delaquise

A poem to brighten day was published in Behind the facade, Camille’s debut collection of poetry.

It is also available as a contemporary art print, produced on textured recycled card.

The gratitude poem

Thankful I am

For a thoughtful mind

A beating heart

And a searching soul

Even when the heart has bled

When hate whispers goodbye

The heart will not die

Mindfulness of the wider world transcends

From one life to another

Inscribing the human condition

When we share in life’s blessings

Abandoning the pain

The sun comes out again

~ Camille Delaquise

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print on textured recycled card.

Should we fight?

For Freedom

For Equality

For Love

For Peace

For Justice

Fight to win?

For every winner there is a loser

For every loser sows a seed

From dark roots will grow

Another winner, another loser

I have slept in the dark

and awoken to the light

A revelation if you will

a sigh of relief, a day to live

Exercise freedom of the mind

Practice equality in daily labors

Share love without restraint

Make peace with the anger,

so anger may dissipate

Forgo the circus show,

allowing them to fall by their own hand

May justice be served by happiness abound

~ Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut collection of contemporary poetry, which received critical acclaim upon its release.

It is also available as a contemporary art print, produced on textured recycled card.