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.

Addiction – the other side

Weeping wounds of disillusion and distance

dusted off in the break of day

For repetition is our fateful repertoire

an unravelling darkness is sure to descend

Bonded by unconditional circumstance

as if balanced on the tightrope of love and pain

wielding silent prayers to arms

you have me on the edge of my seat

as my sanity smiles and walks on by

This is not me, the shadow speaks.

-Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in Behind the Facade, Camille’s debut contemporary poetry collection. Addiction – the other side speaks to the anguish addiction casts across intimate relationships — capturing the helplessness, fracture and emotional double bind of loving someone as they disappear into a shadow of themselves.

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.

For Freedom, Not Assange

Silent steps are taken in the dark
The shadows of history are seen on the walls
Power cringes in the light of truth
Behind closed doors truth is classified
Our fate sealed with government stamps
Truth only becomes truth by inspection

So the gates are locked
Truth deemed such a fragile flower
That it would wither in the public eye
Or could it possibly be the blossoming of liberty
Forces of freedom now stand
Or forever have it plucked from your hand

Information is the key
To unlock the chains around democracy
If it is lost, then we have all lost
Surrendering freedom because we didn't like a man
Distracted by conjecture the battle is won
Without ever whispering the name of the game

Camille Delaquise

This poem was written the day after Julian Assange was arrested and dragged out of the Embassy of Ecuador in London. This poem was originally published in The Green Left Weekly now the Green Left

A sense of something

Watching slowly

Piece by piece

You depart

Brick by brick

Taken away

Lost to the crowd

Do this

Be this

Eat this

Don’t eat that

Don’t be sad

Can’t say that

Speak up

Leave room

Take up space

Live more simply

Life is complicated

Find balance

Work hard

Think less

Be mindful

Do you

Recycle thoughts

Time intersects

I feel you coming

A reckoning

Truth out

~ Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in The Precipice, Camille’s third poetry collection. It is a poem about reclamation. About the moment you feel yourself coming back.

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

The guard

Beware

What refuses to be known

Festers unhealed

Too fragile, too painful

Passed from one to the next

Through generations

Stepped upon

Driven down

The way we do it

Becomes the only way

The guard does not let go

Lets no light in

Let’s talk about it

The things that cannot be said

~ Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in The Precipice, Camille’s third poetry collection, which centres on the rising inequality — profit over people — being the cause of our most urgent global crises, and that confronting this imbalance is essential if we are to step back from the edge.

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

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.

Rebellion

There were times I thought this was enough

To sustain and nourish, even flourish

I thought I could dream

Be lifted up by my own hand

Escape the shackles

Re-purpose them instead

A redesign to showcase

Kindness

A sense of what is fair

With earthly prosperity shared

The life I dreamt of seems further than the moon

A moon walk would be easier make no mistake

Living contained by a wall, ceiling or chain

When will we claim our own lives

Break down the wall and trade freely

Remove the ceiling and reach for the stars

Unlock the chain and free the mind

One question remains

When?

~ Camille Delaquise

Rebellion was published in RISE 2019. It is a call to dismantle the walls, ceilings and chains that limit human potential — and to reclaim freedom, fairness, and shared prosperity before it’s too late.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print 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.

Wildflower

The wind howled at it

The rain drenched

The sun blistered

Animals trampled

It dug in deeper

Emerged triumphantly

Spread its leaves of liberty

Beamed with resilient optimism

Defiant of destructive forces

Standing as the good example

The wildflower propagated

Freedom’s never-ending will

-Camille Delaquise

This poem is the first poem in RISE, Camille’s 2nd poetry collection.

This poem is available as a contemporary poetry print 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.

What if?

Life could be

Peaceful

The road not yet taken

The formula gone

Creating beauty

From a seed

Watching it grow

Leaving only what life needs

Nothing more

What if?

Hope conquered fear

And joy was for all

A better world, for sure

Moving past what has had its day

No perfection, please

Just free

~ Camille

This poem appears in The Precipice, Camille’s third poetry collection, which centres on the rising inequality — profit over people — being the cause of our most urgent global crises, and that confronting this imbalance is essential if we are to step back from the edge. What If? captures the possibility that still exists, should we choose a different path.

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

Female Voices

My voice

Sounds female

My mind

Is of the humankind

Female voices

Misogyny denied

Tried to hush

Built a barricade

Female voices

Rise

Unapologetic

For this disruption

My voice is not alone

It has been raised by the past

Connected to the present

Spoken for the future

Imagining a peaceful world

Women’s voices are heard

~ Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in RISE, Camille’s 2nd poetry collection. This poem Female Voices speaks to feminist continuity — the understanding that each voice carries the strength of those who came before it. It honours intergenerational resistance and collective memory.

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

Ghosts in the machine

We live on the outside

Of locked doors

We walk on by

A mournful sigh escapes

We can see

But are never seen

Remember me

You saw no reflection

So a living wage was taken away

Dehumanising the worker

They are seen as a machine

Assembled to serve

A ghost of a being

With a face to smile

A touch that soothes

This is no machine

Now do you see?

Connections will be made

The light of the spirit flickers

So one day we will be free

~ Camille Delaquise

This poem appears in the poetry Collection RISE. This poem confronts the dehumanisation of workers in systems that reduce people to function, stripping them of dignity, visibility, and fair compensation.

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.