"publicans" poems
I'm making a pub pilgrimage,
A malted Mecca trip;
I'm leaving all I love at home
Crusading with the Picts.
I'll be alone with all my thoughts,
It's what must needs be done,
To keep the demons off.
Publicans meet me on the steps,
On Sundays by the side;
This trip of three thousand miles
May **** should I survive.
My altar's elbow worn,
The finest oaken wood;
I'll climb the stairs on knees,
Hear bells, raise cups of cheer.
There's games of chance,
Some romance,
With songs and several fools;
It has trappings of Canterbury
In pubs all called O'Tooles.
There's Highland mead,
And broken bread,
With harps from inner rooms,
I'll have dispirited spirits
And revel inside tombs.
My cave awaits on my return,
It's dark and hard and cold;
But I know the light's within my sight,
If I move this granite stone.
I'll bring with me a scapula
To make those visions stop,
The relics that I sought,
Those demons of a sot.
Sep 25, 2015
Sep 25, 2015 at 9:16 AM UTC
We are the refused...
Barefoot in the marketplace
Born in the backseat
With minds erased
To hide dirt in the backstreets
And mud on the school steps
The fool in the textbook
Paints us inept
Tainted
******
Illicit natives
Miserable Misfits
Nothing the magistrates can't handle
OH!!!
They wish!
Suppress our melodies
But never break our lips
We are the misused...
Our eyes do penetrate
Every false-flag they perpetuate
Even though barbiturates
Are placed beneath our pillows
The shame billows
The shame follows
Rodents to the edge of the borough
Where men create addicts
There
Publicans turn
Badges burn
Magistrates press their shirts and hatch their eagles
Discernment is not taught
Nor is it learned
We are the obtuse...
Blacked out and abused!
Sold for pulpits and ocean views
Magistrates hate us
Their eagles circle to berate us
"Intolerant"
"Outdated"
"Unpatriotic"
"Ill-fated"
But by grace we persevere
By faith we adhere
To a higher truth
A purer view
Our strongholds are not stick
and stone
Chrome nor drone
But
Christ alone
Our strength and hope
Out hope for home
NOT polls and popes
NOT guns and votes
NOT Magistrates and lazy legislations
NOT eagles which feed on
Desensitized demonstrations
Police brutality and assassinations
Nomadic nations
Sporadic speculations
We
The Refused
We
The Misused
We
The Obtuse
Will NOT cosign evil
Will NOT massage magistrates
Will NOT elevate eagles
We will NOT
We must NOT
Nov 6, 2016
Nov 6, 2016 at 1:51 PM UTC
Jewish activists lay dining,
publicans with plebes aligned;
upon the Roman chaise reclining:
Israelites well-bred (and wined).
Jesus never did wax wroth
while brokering deals for global fail.
No martyr’s noble tablecloth
enfolded Christ, Omega male.
Messiah, Lord of marketing
was favorably credit-rated.
Power points to Christ as king;
One worthy to be worshiped/hated.
Beta beasts and Alpha tyrants
rich investments when installed
tabulate their dull aspirants
chewing cud and unappalled .
Many a sociopathic brute
has steered the bride (Christ’s clueless wife)
away from every attribute
pursuant to eternal life.
You ****** better not forget
when trees get watered at the root
and global profit rises yet
that Jesus wore a business suit.
Apr 16, 2017
Apr 16, 2017 at 7:50 PM UTC
I pray for sustenance not for the body nor vain pursuit of flesh or other
abominations . Not to people of great wealth nor to the publicans who pursue vanity ! Bless the dawn and the gift of Earths music bestowed upon each and every one of us ! To be quick witted , full of laughter, cognizant ,
attentive and stoically hunger for everlasting peace !
Sep 13, 2015
Sep 13, 2015 at 11:00 AM UTC
He came into the country
With wellsprings of living joy
The people wondered on him,
Isn't that Joseph's boy?
"Physician heal thyself!
Thy words are heresy
You're just a man as I am
What do you mean, 'set free' ?
I know who thou art
And from whence thou art come
You profit me nothing
You're the carpenter's son
You blaspheme the holy prophets
Who do you think you are?
Get down from my holy temple
You're not the Morning Star, you're not the Holy One
I know you, you're Joseph's son.
What does he say? ... be 'born again'?
Go into my mother's womb?
He is a fool! He is insane!
His mind is an empty tomb.
He eats and drinks with harlots
And publicans give him stay
How dare he come against us!
Send him on his way!
Lay hold! Take him from the city
And cast him from the ledge!"
He passed among them unnoticed
He left them on the edge.
Not much was done
few seeds were sown
A prophet is not accepted by his own
He travelled down through Galilee
He spread the news
He set men free
Jun 9, 2016
Jun 9, 2016 at 4:50 PM UTC
We used to know a fellow a happy sort of chap
A stocky short black gentleman with an accent and a cap
He'd come around to our house with bottles in a bag
He'd arrive ****** up sometimes that was the only snag
We'd open the door and he'd say "I'm not stopping long"
But he could be there a week so that statement would be wrong
He'd have a drink with our dad they'd both be on the whisky
My dad would then fall asleep but he would get too frisky
Dancing about and laughing he would utter "gizz a kiss"
He would always try it on when he was on the ****
The trouble was he was the kind who was always on the lash
I guess that's why when he got paid he never got the cash
Cos at the Duke of Wellington he had drinks on the slate
And his wages their diminished at an alarming rate
If we where out when he turned up I guess he didn't think
Instead of leaving it round the back he'd throw away the drink
We'd say "leave the bag on the bench under the window ledge"
But every time he would dump the bottles in some ******* hedge
He could be a pain sometimes but not the nasty type of drunk
My sister named an item after him something that was shrunk
Gizz a kiss was the name given to my sisters shrunken head
That thing really resembled him except it was small and dead
He had a little catchphrase when things would start to wain
But it would be amusing to hear him say "ooh da pain"
We had a bonfire one night and he danced around the flames
Like a red indian chief it was one of his drunk games
An argument with our neighbours outside our house one night
He took a swing and missed his punch during that stupid fight
He fell in a drunken stupor but he just laughed out loud
He landed in the gutter with a smile all black and proud
The case of the fight was decided by the justice crown
It was in the Guardian the local paper of the town
He was the unknown black man which was ridiculously absurd
That's what the newspaper's reported the funniest thing we've heard
Coz few people didn't know him well only one or two
He was a well known gentleman that a lot of people knew
From the cops to local publicans the news statement was just silly
Because the unknown black man was mr yen known as old Black Billy
Feb 14, 2018
Feb 14, 2018 at 5:39 AM UTC
The Romans taxed by auctioning off the right to collect taxes to the highest bidder . Then the tax collector would tax enough to cover his cost and
make a profit .
These were the toll-takers , custom-takers for the Romans , and most of them were greedy grifters . They were hated by the people . They were called Publicans because they took up publica , the goods of the Empire .
Publicans are still here today collecting taxes but they like to be called by their new name , Republicans .
Sep 8, 2025
Sep 8, 2025 at 8:42 AM UTC
Thespians and publicans have something in common with me ..
I trust both of them about as far as I could throw 'em !
Feb 27, 2017
Feb 27, 2017 at 5:41 PM UTC