John Bartholomew

John Bartholomew Feb 2018

The Act

Are we just actors in a play by God
Put here for him to play whilst bored on his other job
A game of sorts, with devilish cohorts, just dice for them to throw
Its all just pretend, no script or friend as once seen in the Truman Show

How many are there, moving us around from a place of unknown premise
Black holes dissolve and planets collide, Gods bored with destructive menace
We believe in so many powers but who is the real McCoy
Us just sat here for millions of years, scared of death and what comes next
But we are just their little toys

The Act

JJB

“We are all broken and wounded in this world. Some choose to grow strong at the broken places.”
― Harold J. Duarte-Bernhardt

“...he seemed to grasp a deep understanding of the unfolding drama in which he had been caught. He seemed to understand something that few of even the wisest men of his day understood...God wanted a broken vessel.”
― Gene Edwards, A Tale of Three Kings

“All God does is watch us and **** us when we get boring. We must never, ever be boring.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Invisible Monsters

“I think God, in creating man, somewhat overestimated his ability.”
― Oscar Wilde

#god #life #toys

John Bartholomew Feb 2018

Kid of the Nineties

Touring the cities of England and the UK
Back of a transit van, rocking up to anywhere that paid
The brothers Grimm and their trusty cohorts
Bonehead on rhythm, McCarroll on drums, Guigsy up to all sorts

That gig at the Wah Wah, King Tuts to be precise
Glasgow you beauty, **** the next show up in Fife
The man that found them, a mister Alan McGee
A Britpop revolution, all great memories

They came and most failed, that one gig on Top of The Pops
Menswear to Mansun and an array of rank haircuts where the seagulls did flock
We had the trendies in Camden all hanging around on their scooters with parka’s
Noel or Liam and that fella from Echobelly, anything to be famous and get on the telly

But then the times must end and it all turned a little sour
A few trudged on with an album or two, the Manics to Cast and the lyrics from John Power
Patsy and Liam had that cover on the front of Vanity Fair
Draped in Britannia, divorce on the cards, strange how no-one now cares

Good times they were without a worry in the world and a now gone era
Euro 96, Southgate’s miss and those goals from Teddy and Shearer
A time well remembered and days I’d love to see back
If not only for the music but for the not caring and the unforeseen great craic

Not to hate the now as times move on
But a day in the past, served at seventeen and to claim you were the one
Not to be asked I.D. and sneakily drink that Stella
laughing at the bar, king of the blaggers, not to be served again by that same fella

Before the phone and the apps, we used to meet face to face
Girl at the bar, a bit of blarney and a home number to suit, always up for the chase
Do you ring tomorrow and who’s going to answer
Her mum might be alright, but her dad could be a ******!

I couldn’t imagine doing it all again now
Swipe left to say no or right to give it a go
Seems inhuman to me not to spark up a chat
But maybe that’s just me, stuck in past, I’m just old hat.

JJB

A sphincter says what? - Wayne's World

#nineties #britpop #oasis #noel #liam #scooter #camden #swipe

John Bartholomew Feb 2018

A Million Thoughts

If you are not like me then you will never probably see
The million thoughts I dream of being everyday
A sailor, a wrestler, but never a candlestick maker (ambition people, come on!)

We all think outside the box but end up never breaking out
Tesco’s, stuck on the till, idealist conceptions up on a hill but sat here earning nowt

Its human instinct to better yourself
Flunked GCSE’s, a mortgage to pay but still dreaming of better days

Am I the only one who thinks like this
I work to live, not live to work, the optimist in me always wanting his bliss

Life begins to **** this wanting of a concept
Sorry lads, the time is now, be like them and live with the debts

It’s what you do that counts, that journey from start to finish
Live like a king or slide away and diminish,

A million thoughts

JJB

"It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation." -- Herman Melville
"Opportunities don't happen. You create them." -- Chris Grosser
"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm." -- Winston Churchill

#life #dreams #diminish #thoughts

John Bartholomew Jan 2018

Obsessed (for no one in particular)

You think my desires are flawed and my head is mad
I like things to a max but sometimes it’s a passing fad
Let me see that game I like but don’t think I’m crazy
Some days I just can’t be arsed so best call me lazy

I like what I like its just human nature
But obsession is for the ****** so let me rest those fears
I love you she says its only been a week
Her last boyfriend now dead, better order me my wreath

Clutched in the realms of a lover now deluded
I only went there for a quickie, well we all have our uses
Can’t she see the open door to another lay
Please leave me alone and get out of my way

Gripped with those nails now digging in
She mentions the word marriage as we are living in sin
Well that’s it I suppose, no getting away now
Tom, **** or Harry, name any tunnel to get away from that cow

Obsessed to the hilt, am I that attractive
Drunken words in the bar were not supposed to be seductive
I give up running, you beat me, you’ve won
Together for life, no getting away now, time to dig out that gun

As I sum up this sad story of a night gone completely wrong
These are lyrics that I just couldn’t fit into a song
She loved me too much and that’s the title to this escapade
A devoted girl dead after a night of just wanting to get laid,

Obsessed.

JJB

“Far from a normal-functioning relationship, but normal has never been our thing.”
― Anna Todd, After We Fell

“We yearn for a stranger to poke around in our heart. Such an irrational thing it is. Flutter once and lunacy behold.”
― H.S. Crow

#obsessed #love #devoted

John Bartholomew Jan 2018

Football

Pick a team from the local to the ten counties away
Inherited from your father or defiant like no other
Typical football fan that likes a bit of banter
No way I’ll be the same as my brother

Be it a County or a Town, there will always be days where you’ll have to frown
From striker to the keeper, mistakes are made where someone acted the clown
But when Saturday comes that will all be forgotten
Hat-trick from the Spaniard you’re once again smitten

The rivalries increase from City to United
Yours will always be the best team well that’s what your dad said
From the Celtic to the Rangers down to the Arsenals and the Hotspurs
Trouble has brewed for years without a kick-start or a stir

And then the billionaires stepped in and made it a business
Money to be made from the working class through to the Stubhub ticket
The tout on the street is an illegal source of income
Whack on a tax and the Governments blind eye is now looking handsome

So how far can this escalate with wages and ticket price entry
The first player worth a billion is only a few years away
Stadiums that hold a capacity where nobody can actually see
You think I’m making a joke, it’s all on the horizon believe me,
It’s a way of life,
Football

JJB

“I don’t believe skill was, or ever will be, the result of coaches. It is a result of a love affair between the child and the ball.” - Roy Keane
“Football is the ballet of the masses.” - Dmitri Shostakovich
“I’m a rock star because I couldn’t be a soccer star.” - Rod Stewart
"The trouble with referees is that they know the rules, but they don't know the game." - Bill Shankly

#football #hotspur #united #city

John Bartholomew Jan 2018

False Front

We all want to live the high life, but few can ill afford it
The glamour the glitz to dining at the Ritz, a means to which we could all be easily adjusted
But the nine till five pays pittance for those shots in Hello and Vogue
The dreamer can dream their dreams while living off that hefty loan

The Range Rover, the Levante, the Lexus RX, who wouldn’t be jealous of a little luxury
The clothes to the house with security and lights, boy you must be worth a few pennies
Erroneousness and the falsehood of a life well concealed
Paying back that percentage rate from which you may now reel

The reality is your just keeping up with the Jones's
Penny pinching is a way of life but best not show the neighbours
Walk on with your head held high in the knowing that all’s not good
Struggling to pay the bills and sometimes even your food

So here comes the bail out from someone close by
Indebted to your eyeballs without the decency to even cry
The banks would laugh at your misgivings knowing the debt was in their hands
But you carry on, it’s a way of life hanging onto that final strand

You’re in the clear, all debt is gone, time to make a fresh new start
A second hand Fiesta, *** burns in the seat, what happened to my big shiny car
The mums at the gate all talking in sneers, now that I’m out of the pack
Fill out that online form, more credit to burn, time to get back on track,
and revitalize that false front.

JJB

The recession won’t be over till we raise a generation that knows how to live on what they’ve got. – Unknown

#money #living #false #lexus

John Bartholomew Jan 2018

Window Gazing

As I sit here just chewing the cud
Nights lost and debauched with my friend Richard
Picking up that guitar as a kid from Cash Converters
He left me for the sun down under with the students and the surfers

E Minor through to a chord named A Sharp
Strangling that neck with fingers that don’t know where to start
I should have listened to Mr Hogarth for this career in its finest form
Rocking out on stage wow that would have been a storm

But it’s never too late to try and give it another go
Read music they say but I wouldn’t know my **** from my elbow
No, no, no, that’s not the attitude
I’ll plug this thing and never give up as someday I’ll fill those smoky rooms

I joined a band with 2 brothers and bassist of whom I did not know
Mill Hill practice every Sunday just thought I’d give it a go
But only one song and a commitment I could not keep it was always bound to fail
I’ll carry on solo still looking on but really just chasing my own tail

Work carried on as a plumber of which I never did really enjoy
But it paid the bills
A mortgage
A van
And a wedding on the horizon
All in sight except for that unseen tree which nearly stopped me from ever rising

Paraplegic is a word I had rarely ever used
you’re a *******, a ****, I had said once myself how dare I have used that abuse
To be told you will never walk again is a shot that broke my heart
Don’t let it get you down be strong and try for a brand new start
The days go by at the start of this new journey
The loss of once friends and to gain some new is now what must ground me
A different perspective and a sharper humour has now unveiled
Hello new world you won’t get me down just watch this beast unravel

Taking the good with the bad and filtering through the ugly
A different ship to now set sail, get ready for this could get choppy
But as I say and always repeat, life goes on its just how you take it
This second chance given to me a bit lower down, but still determined to make it,
Hey Mr Wheelchair.

JJB

“I had learned quickly that life doesn't always go the way I want it to, and that's okay. I still plod on.”
― Sarah Todd Hammer, Determination

“Know me for my abilities, not my disability.” Robert M. Hensel

“My disability has opened my eyes to see my true abilities.” Robert M. Hensel

#paraplegic #******* #wheelchair #determined #plumber