Botticelli
Bottomed
Breast-pink cheeked
cherub
Hors-D'oeuvring
Hallowed
Wisps of
Wondrously
Mellifluous
Muscat
Bouqueyed
Babybreath

Sucklescen­ted
Sweetmeat
Creases
Gloved in
Globs of
Bubbarind
Probing
Puckish
Pudgy
Dimpled
Digits
Touch
Timeless
­Truth in
Humankind


January 26th 1990

My mentor spoke to me of two rivals,
Once, they had been friends in some distant past.
But the years have eaten their love and made grudges manifest.
|The two shattered into broken glass

To my wise master I asked only one,
One question... In all my range.
One question I asked:
“What changed?”

In the outskirts, at the home of my daughter
Where you can stare at the stars or passing cars
None more brighter than the other,
We share memories of my grandmother.
In the photographs, she looks so much younger.
Not frail, but a fighter, lover and saintly|

To me, she asks plainly,
One question, and one question only.
Sifting through the ages of years past:
“What Changed?”

At the kitchen table, feeling inadequate,
My lover screaming and frustrated,
I recall memories when we had been intimate.
Times when movement was made for desire and not duty
|A calendar of nights left in confused abstinence

I interrupt.
She delays rage.
I beg,
“What Changed?”

_

In the last few hours of night
The dawn reaches me at last.
I had locked moments-
Literal seconds of time as the truth.
But it was always changing
In flux and morphing.
Turning into something new
Just for a moment, and then on again
“What Changed?”
Everything.
Always.

And everyone's O'Toole
But in a bliss of ignorance
They fashion him the fool
For whoever saw an Irishman
Vesti-ing a luminous emerald hat
The size of a navvie's bucket
Upon a wirey titian mat
Or quaffing pints of soylent ale
for the Irish wine they can't abide
With phoney tears for the troubled years
whilst faking Irish pride

No, tis not O'Toole who is the fool
But every other class of twit
Who imagines that to dress in green
Bestows one charm and wit
For when Patrick's feast is over
And the clock past midnight ticks
your false fair weather Fenians
will disavow us '******* Micks'

Josiah Jack
never uttered a sound
when they dragged him away
from the scene.
when his poor body
was eventually found,
the treatment endured,
had been mean.

With no tongue in his head
they had left him for dead.

With a month
on his back,
he did indeed
contemplate.
Only sin
“he was black”
hence forth
this weary state.

They attacked in the night,
hooded and white.

All in all
he was
lucky
to be
breathing at all,
all because
he was plucky,
all because
he stood tall.

A ***** they said
should lower his head.

Were they hooded
for fear?
Were they hooded
in shame?
Most likely,
once covered,
they could hide
of their name.

If things were so right,
why hide out of sight?

Bravery isn't
a word for the ****,
Cowards,
this word comes to mind.
Bravery comes
when there's only one man,
not one
with ten more stood behind.

I will strike in a pack
with someone watching my back.

Their plan
was to ****,
this man
Josiah Jack.
Perhaps they
get a thrill
when someone
cannot fight back.

They get real loud
when they join with the crowd.

Josiah
knew well
that if he
raised a hand
his kin folk
would feel hell
from this
unruly band.

So he did not fight
but gave in to his plight.

They think
they were hidden
beneath that
white hood,
Josiah's hearing
is sound
and his
memory is good.

So when things are forgot,
he will take of his lot.

That's exactly
what happened,
as they lay
in their bed.
The flames hurled
with fury
the sky
filled with red.

This man barbequed them like fish on a rack
and no one put it down to Josiah Jack.

I like to take a dip in the poetry well
when my life seems to be dry
I like to take a dip in the poetry well
when I question why
I like to take a dip in the poetry well
when I lost the courage to try something new
I like to take a dip in the poetry well
when I need encouragement then I get it from you
I like to take a dip in the poetry well
to ease some anxiety
I like to take a dip in the poetry well
let my emotions swell
I take to take a dip in the poetry well
while holding paper and a pen
I like to take a dip in the poetry well
where inspiration never ends
I like to take a dip in the poetry well
where I can gather with my friends