Dolores Speaks

 (A lone voice whispers)

  

Press play before reading. Salute.

I always wondered

In those quiet moments spent on my own

When I was young

 

Alone in Limerick

 

How it would, all

Eventually, end

 

For all great things are so temporal

 

And my beloved family and

Friends

 

Are so badly missed

Now I’m reborn as something else

 

Just one of the many

Dearly Departed

 

Like Julius Caesar and Cleopatra

 

We all once lovingly sang together in unison 

In our own divine

Red Church

 

In the Spire of St. Mary's Cathedral

 

A place I retreated to

Filled with lingering hopes and deep dreams 

When everything just hurt

But in the end

 

Like ridiculous childish thoughts

Golden red rose promises and

All great things

 

They now

Lay in memory-filled ruins

In here

The Great In-Between

 

Where the grey zombies

Sometimes surround and analyze me

In these dark corners

 

As they once again

Live amongst us 

 

The heartbroken mourners

 

Now just like in

The Quiet Man

 

Those broken old promises and thoughts

Are slowly been blown away

Softly

 

But I still stand strong like

A reborn Maureen O'Hara

 

Entangled forever

Emotionally

 

Within this southern

Wind-blown dirt

 

You were so beautiful

My old love

But now you dance

Alone

 

In that

Ralph Lauren

White polo tee-shirt

 

I once bought

 

I was your

Raven-haired queen

And you my only king

 

But now

I'm just another lost soul

Filled with wild animal instincts

 

Stuck in a black cloudless

Prison

 

A kangaroo court

Which finally tore us

Apart

 

No matter

What I hear

Or feel in here

 

Wherever I fall short

 

No matter how hard those memories

Of my old life sing out like rock stars concert

 

No matter how they all cut so deep 

Like a butcher's sharp

Devoted knife

 

I will always rise

 

Because I know

I was born under the protection Of The Lady of the Seven Dolours

 

To always survive even in this

The afterlife

 

I know I can’t be with you all

And it's not my imagination

 

Or anything else that calls

Or even me

 

Playing new games

 

In here

From the Great In-Between

Where I now live on

Unseen

 

But just a kind soul

Who tried to be a friend

 

To many strangers

 

I hope you all have a wonderful life and shine so bright

With as many names

As you all own

 

As my time before you

Quickly ticks out

 

But I promise 

I'll take all those stage full of playful memories

We once shared

And keep them safely tucked away

 

Now I’m on my last journey

Home

 

You were once all

My sparkling treasures in the dirt

And the darkness

 

When old childhood memories returned and

Everything

Just felt overworked

 

I'll see you all so soon

Because I’ll always wait by the

Holy River

 

Of which everyone speaks

 

Where I know the Lord

 

Will bless

Anoint and forgive us

 

For all those moments we sinned

Whenever we were weak

 

My song may have ended

But I can only pray my memories still linger on

 

I was on born on the sixth

Of September 1971 

In Ballybricken

 

County Limerick in Ireland

 

It’s where I’ll return

If I can

 

Home to The Emerald Isle

Where I was once laid to rest

 

I still love you all

And it’s because of that love

 

I return

For I still feel so blessed

 

To have this final chance to say

Goodbye

 

Even though

Deep down inside

My poor soul still cries

 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy via Pinterest.

An old monologue for a theatre project which covid stopped.

Logline:

What would the dearly departed say, if they got one last chance?

Dolores Mary Eileen O'Riordan was an Irish musician, singer, and songwriter.

She was best known as the lead vocalist and lyricist for the alternative rock band Cranberries.

She, unfortunately, passed over in January 2018.

Would you watch a supernatural film with poetry as its dialogue?

The Daydreamer

Press play and let the music wash over you as you read.

Salute.

When the sunset is spent

At the end of a long rigorous day

Lost

In a daydream that's all mine

While my thunderous heart

Beats on fire

Filled with whispering

Spellbinding words

To take me higher 

I always wonder 

Are we but one of many

Silent prayers 

Blowing yonder

Like soft snowflakes

In an endless night

Pagan Songs carried skywards

Just lost 

In whirlwinds of golden shimmering dust

Symphonies of hearts ablaze

And screaming for someone to just 

Trust

Rapturous but maybe blue 

Does my own heart still sing love

Songs

For just you

I know 

As long as we both live 

As long as the days are long 

With so many God-given treasures 

To give 

I hope my God-given prayers

Will be answered

With my rescue

For when the sunset has gone

And died 

And night stalks all the lands

When the low drums rumble

And old pianos sing

When the eerie high pitch noise 

Of self-doubt 

Returns

Once again

I’ll dream that old favorite daydream 

Living with you as my queen

In that classic scene from Casablanca 

Where my broken-heart 

No longer screams

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Channelling Kurt Donald Cobain

 

Press play before reading. Salute.

Channelling Kurt Donald Cobain

This Kurt Cobain story is simply him talking to his fans, reflecting about his life and ultimately his sudden death.

It ends with a positive Kurt sending a goodwill message to his fans.

A recent monologue for a film project on hold due to covid from The Great In-Between.

The auditions were amazing. One inspired actor in particular nailed it.

With good luck, I may make it on 2024.

Did I channel Kurt Cobain at 3 am?

__________________________________

Hey

I see you

Will

Come as you are

To my new Wishkah River

Will you

Climb over everything in your way 

From that room

To look in my cheap

Tom Moore cigar box 

My lawgiver

Where old apologies loved to gig

Like a red rose

When I once got out my rig

To really bloom

Do you want to come

To me

So

We can talk about

Here in my candlelit hotel tomb 

Where you slept late

Last night

Marander

 Tobi

Kathleen

And all you watching and

Listening 

Will you come

Soon

So we can sip some lithium together

In wild groups

To beat depression and get so high

That we'll cry and talk about a girl 

About being a son

And all that's in-between

Here under this grey new sky

We'll dive right into the smell of Teen Spirit

And

With the rising of the White midnight sun

We'll hide somewhere

In my new Nevermind

Under a new bridge

In a sacred place

Where I’ll play solo and

Put on a new lounge act

We'll drink some cheap wet champagne 

Whilst high on cocaine 

Until there's

Nobody standing in our way

With no corrupt police officers

To arrest or read us

Lame laws

Like drunk accessories before the fact

We’ll breed aimlessly

With the Nameless

Endlessly

High on this new love buzz

Finally, you know

I'm on a new plane

Where I no longer want

To die 

I was made by The Unholy Priest of the Street

Standing on the corner

Selling drugs

In Tacoma, Washington

It’s why I became a singer

And for my generation

For I'm a true performer

I still love you all

I’m so really sorry but I was made 

By others

To go

And now with the aging of

Of a wise apprentice

I wish I could touch all your soft tears

As you cry

But I'm just a negative creep

Going back to the

Tall Guy

Where I can now run free

Just another servant

To the Old Music

Now one of its

27 Slaves

Serving old California Biscuits and cold tea

Singing grunge songs

To drain you

On my yellow snappy beach

Beside this black sea

Reaching down

Through this circle of salt

Still trying to stop

Sinning with William 

The true King of the Beat

Jamming with

Jimmy Hendrix

And The Black Star

David Bowie

The man who once sold the world 

For a golden trophy

To prove he wasn’t a phony

So you'll see

To really love rock and roll

From a truly deep place

Where music and wild gigs

Plays all day and night

You need to chase The Dragon and meet us

In those drug-induced dreams

Or will you just

Put on an album

To keep our voices and ass’s

Stuck in your mental jail

Wearing your grey cardigans and badly ripped

Jeans

Just

Come as you are 

Listen to us all

Whispering in the dark

Look into my music

Whenever you need to use it

Listen

To my music 

You have my

Permission to abuse it

I was changed in 1976

This I now know

Generation X

I still love you

Even though

I'm in here

Just singing still 

From the shores by the River Styx

I once played No-on-Nine

For you 

Because I just loved the thought

You were all mine

I no longer drink pennyroyal tea

For I'm now free

 

I once found a hard love

That led me

Straight to the cold beaches of hell 

Under her spell 

And it’s funny

As I look out

The way most people soon start to love the dead

For once you cross over 

They sell all your stuff and

They're made for life

You just have to follow all the evidence

For the truth

Whatever is still said

I've heard something wild

From Jimmy

In here

Jesus does not will that any go to hell 

But desires that you would embrace his knock

Upon your heart

And let Him in

He wills to save you 

But will not save you 

From sin 

Against your will

You have to let him in

To begin a new start

I once heard him call

You know

It’s why I still stand in front of this alabaster door 

Between worlds and knock

And 

If anyone hears my voice and

Turns that key in their lock

And opens the door

I will come and drink with them 

And them with me

I’ll always listen to you

From here in the Great In-Between

Will you listen to me

So we can meet 

Underneath this Green everlasting Sea

And light up the world 

As crows sing 

In unison

From The Black Gallow Trees

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

The Voice at Easter Speaking Through Time

Press play before you read

Happy Easter. Salute.

(A lone voice whispers)

If only we had understood the justifications

I wouldn't be composing these stanzas here in old Jerusalem

If only we had realized all those painful tragic answers to come

We would have stopped them from happening 

And took no chances at the very beginning 

 

If only we knew this day filled with darkness would be returning

We would have tried to stop it before our hearts started burning

But we never saw it coming and never disputed your stories saying so

Of which there was plenty

We believed we were to be together forever

To walk hand in hand in all weathers

We never felt deserted even though it felt you were always away 

Praying or preaching 

But in the process of living

Our hearts gave up and cried

When nailed on that wooden cross before us

All the hopes of forgiveness and absolution 

Just looked us in the eyes

Smiled

Stopped breathing and quietly died

As we placed you in the tomb with Joseph and rolled forth that heavy stone

It felt to some as though we'd never met 

As they wept

But to us who really knew you

Our hearts could never forget

And as I watched some cry and express hate for our Lord's fate 

I too despised what I'd become

I wished I'd had found more time to be with you

To learn more 

All sad tokens of introspection as I laid you in that tomb

I thought like many others

You were taken from us and sent so far away

But the rumors circulating say you've risen

Oh, how happy we all are that you've escaped death's cold prison 

We all remembered when you said you wouldn't leave

That if in me, you do believe 

And if we didn't 

What would this world be like 

If you wouldn't in our hearts still be living

Well, that's now all in the past as we gather here on this beautiful Sunday

To pray in these moments for the forgiveness of all our earthly sins 

In this hidden backroom here in Jerusalem

To fall in love with Faith once more 

Now you've risen from the tomb

A dark place where we left you a few days ago 

To lay all alone

We can only pray the world of the future see the truth

For to truly believe you don't need any proof

For faith is a delicate thing

Don't just look for it in well-written books or scripture

Don't look for it at night or during the day

Don't let it weep and recede or wither and just walk away 

Just believe in something greater

It's how he'll find you and reintroduce you to your maker

For as Nicodemus was once asked.

"How can a man be born when he is old?"

"Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

You answered, 

"I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit."

So to all you readers who may read this in the near future

Just listen for the Almighty's great voice and with faith in something greater

You'll know in your heart it's him 

If you're just open to hearing it

After praying and then whispering 

Amen

Copyright John Duffy 

From the Mount of Olives to Via Dolorosa.

Are you ready to walk within my deep dreams? 

Let us begin.

I was stood somewhere up high in a magnificent luscious garden, and as the daylight slowly receded.  

I saw a band of say,12 men gradually approaching.  

All adorned in white robes of some sorts.

With the shimmering stars, lighting up the grey skies as their escorting heavenly consorts.  

They were all a short distance away and never saw me watching, hidden behind a green olive grove.  

As I carefully stared, I felt as if one of them knew I was there.

Hidden from sight, but still, he knew.  

As I watched, he seemed to speak to the group clad in white and left.  

Walking purposefully towards me.  

With a subtle sense of supernatural power and a movement, that spoke of effortless control.  

He seemed to be mouthing something I could not hear.  

To the now dark ominous skies hovering above him.

Which seemed to crackle with electric energy and authority as though replying.  

As I watched.

Looking down the hill past his followers.  

A multitude of flickering yellow lights seemed to be parading up the now black curving pathway.

Like a mythical glow-worm.  

Something so incredible and strange, I just knew this dream was way above the norm.  

A deep compulsion to warn the figure who I now recognized as Jesus, washed over me, but before I could speak.  

He raised his finger to his lips and seemed to send me a message telepathically.  

That made all my energies redundant and weak.  

It is ok, John.

I know what is to come and the price I must pay.  

Be silent as my eternal friends now sleep, for a short while at least.

Before the storm which is to come starting tonight. Coming from the East.

For they do not know the price I have to pay, or could ever have the capacity to understand.  

My journey to Golgotha isn't the end, but also a new beginning for all living things.  

I will see you again in my Fathers Great Kingdom when, unfortunately, you too will eventually wear one of Death's black wedding rings.  

You have simply stumbled upon one of humanity's old memories.  

Iconic moments which are constantly replayed for the curious to find, and to appreciate for themselves.  

I have seen this memory written down in so many old black leather-bound books,   and one thing they all seem to miss; is this.  

Can you write this visit down for me, for the few to see if they too find their way here like you?  

For there's still a secret here to find in these deep dreams, as they too wander through these wet mists.  

You see when the Temple guards took me from here.  

In the Garden of Gethsemane.  

As I was led away after that kiss, from you know who - who I forgave, of course.  

I walked away with them smiling, for I knew.  

I knew humanity would finally have a chance at salvation.  

This flux around us is shimmering but it will hold.  

Stay with me for a few more moments, as I speak of humanity's chance of redemption.  

And then he broke eye contact and returned to his sleeping disciples.  

Who awoke as the loud battalion of Temple men arrived.  

Judas Iscariot kissed him and called him, Rabbi, as I looked on.  

The figure who just spoke to me, now arrested. Walked down the hill.  

Looking straight forward and glowing with such a beautiful beaming smile, that must have stood out for a country mile.  

The one where true untainted happiness cannot be hidden.  

A child's smile.

A Son of God smile.  

The last message I received as I lost the ethereal dream state was simply this.  

Fear not, I will survive for soon passage for all can never be denied.  

As he slowly disappeared into the darkness and walked to his already foretold wake.  

Trailed by some strong-looking men holding lit torches, and men in white robes. Following screaming and crying.  

With white doves watching the scene below as they stopped flying.

He spoke again.  

I willingly go to die, so that all of humanity could have their sins forgiven, and receive endless life.  

If in me they do believe.  

So that broken relationships with God can be restored.  

And Atonement can be known and acknowledged in every moment.  

And then I awoke in a cold sweat.

Rather a strange dream to recollect.  

I can still see all those figures in white walking up that winding pathway.

And always hear that so soothing voice before they all walked to the Way of Sorrows.

Did my imagination conjure it up, or did I stumble into one of humanity's hidden time loops?  

All questions for a reflective Easter weekend like today, whilst sipping Merlot and bathing in the sunshine of life.  

Have a great time wherever you are.  

I hope you are free and not suffering from any struggles or strife.  

Remember, you now belong to two strange worlds.  

One of this mortal life, and one of forgiveness where there is no night.  

Salute and Happy Easter.  

Copyright John Duffy

The Fan from Elsewhere

  

Foundation of the piece.

Logline

Is the true cost of fame worth the unspoken truth of celebrity status?

We all must know at least one celebrity from one platform, who crossed over after shaking Fame's seductive hard.

From music, art, film and literature. 

The many doors which open, also has tables like ones in The Banquet of the Gods.

Spilling with all known temptations.  

Light and dark.

(A lone voice whispers)

Under an old wooden White Cross

Stood smiling

In a field  

Full of rolling weeds and green moss

Clutching a white rose  

With capricious eyes, that whispered

Come across

To me

I saw her  

Standing all the way back

As I drank in the scene

Like a radiant goddess

From The Great In-Between  

Sat in the fourth row

Watching  

One of our favorite new cinematic greats

In our interconnected news feed

Called  

Life's Great Picture Shows  

And like a new Marilyn Monroe

The new Love Parade Face 

Of Gucci  

This new star of the moment

Radiated such intense subliminal beauty

But what many didn't know  

Her family and friends

And all those others we see  

Who pretend

We 

The Silent Ghostly Watchers 

Ancestors

Old dead lovers

And otherworldly fans

Spirits like me

Scrutinizing her movie

Know

Her innate talents will soon send her

Where the Starlinks fly

Up to The High Places

Where all Real-Time Dreamers

Go

After they've been partying with pure white ...snow

(C)  

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy from Pinterest.

Whispers in a Dream

 

(A lone voice speaks)

ln life 

You 

Yes 

You 

Like all mortals 

Like I once was

 

Will lose everything you truly adore 

With the final cut of one of The Six Fates' 

By Thanatos's sharp knife 

Them being 

Father

Mother 

Son

Daughter 

Sister 

Brother 

 

As your life runs 

All else in between 

Can be fixed 

But that quick or slow cut 

To one of The Six

Can be the first of many arrows 

Loosed hails 

From the fiery bows of Exanimationes Incidamus 

Released to irritate us

So we know the bitter taste of loss

And how painfully rigid that path is

For one is doomed to go falling and climbing 

Mixed emotions precarious stairs 

But fear not

Resist never 

For that stairs always leads home 

To accepting 

Loss is just one of life's 

Cornerstones 

Everything has a sell-by date 

All of us 

Before we too 

Turn to dust 

Want to know a secret how the circumvent some of that pain 

Love them even harder 

The Six Fates 

Father

Mother 

Son

Daughter 

Sister 

Brother 

If you have six 

Create great lasting memories 

A legacy filled with such personal stories 

For they will be a shield and sword to battle grief 

For some cathartic relief

For one day

Exanimationes Incidamus 

With his green quilted bow in tow

Will suddenly open up that door 

This you can trust

So fire can flush out of every window 

Of your inner house with

a huge force 

Followed by the call of a thousand trumpets 

To compel one to be left 

With too little 

As you seem to lose your way 

Without a compass

And hide away from the world 

In your own holy fallout shelter 

In your Inner Delta 

Where you'll sit and remember 

Your life's gift of promise 

Forever 

Your 

Strength 

Defender 

And

Saviors 

Have gone

For sometimes when Death 

Thanatos

Comes calling and places his Black Veil lovingly on the Chosen 

To then lead them away 

Spiritually by the hand 

Dressed in His midnight suit 

Black with a white tie

As their physical body slumps 

As they die

Know this 

Their spirit 

As it leaves that now empty husk 

Looks for you 

One last time 

And prays 

With pleading eyes 

You'll one day be reunited 

Somewhere 

In Eternities 

Fast swirling dust 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

(Exanimationes Incidamus. Latin for Depression.) 

Salvatoro's' Vision

(A lone voice whispers)

Are you being brainwashed 

And exquisitely influenced 

By The Relentless Mixed  

Outcasts who took sides 

In the Great Rebellion of Angels

To play unholy tricks

Does your psychic reflection 

Show true angels 

Your spiritual strengths or stagnation  

Or are you just spiritually 

Bereft 

Doomed 

And it's why you race through lifes mists

In an infinite quest 

Of self-interest 

Not helping others 

Expressing kindness 

But

Wavering a purple 

Look at Me  

Or blue 

I Believe and Accept 

The Narrative Flag

Like a Bannerman of House Pinterest  

But be careful though 

Those 

Spiritually bereft

Those halfway souls are eternally fluctuating 

Like cheap yellow silk scarfs in the hot Acheron Winds 

When their Great Bell chimes

Neither in The Great Pit nor out of it 

Cowards instead 

Residing on the shores 

Of the River of Woe 

In the Land of the Dead

Watching Brother Charon ferrying lost souls 

Across to Hell 

To meet 

Mister 

You Know

Those Neither Ones

The neutrals in life  

Who sat on the fence 

And never gave two cents 

Watching the world implode and burn 

All around them 

Without a care in the world

The Bannermen  

Condemned and

Hypnotized by the visual barbiturate  

Of Social Media or House Self Interest 

Soon to sit shackled to the crawling sand banks of strange insects 

Beside The River of Woe

By its ever-moving sand dunes

Crawling with opening and closing 

Misshapen hands 

Loathsome souls and sinners' 

Awashed with ever-flowing sweat and wet tears 

That flows down their skin  

As the ever-watching Crow Men 

With golden eyes 

Ablaze 

Armed with fiery black pitchforks 

Creep in

Forever smiling 

As The Only Ferry in town 

Passes by 

Filled with sad passengers 

Soon to worship loneliness

Soon to cry 

With the lone drum beats of Urtication 

Starts

To instill a new consciousness 

In their endless trials of Antipathy of Corruption and Degradation 

Like a hot spear 

To the heart

This I've seen 

It's such a living masterpiece of manifestation 

A divine work of art 

So

Do more 

Be more 

Or you could be on the ferry with Brother Charon 

On stuck 

Watching forever 

In the sandy dunes 

Crawling with the beasts of Hell's long night 

Where the misshapen hands live to run 

As you regret things 

You should have said 

Or done

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy from Google.

Voices in the Night

(A lone voice whispers)

My only love

May you remember me 

As I soar

With a heart that gleams 

Like a rare Atlantis diamond

My love 

Even though separated 

By this Great In-Between

Which for you 

Alone in my incredible memories cathedrals 

Alabaster halls 

I still scream for

I know one glorious day 

We'll be together again 

For I'll climb all known or unknown mountains

To find you 

For a new start 

To ask even the highest gods and goddesses 

The Elementals of the Universe 

Why we were so tragically torn apart

Swim the Black Rivers of Golgotha 

Filled with pink shoals of ravenous piranha

To reach the edges of Sheol or Nirvana

Death might have taken me so strongly

Extinguished my lit candle 

So wrongly 

But Love exists forever

When found 

Lives on with delight Into the longest of dark nights

Even if one walks on Heaven's high ground 

Or underground in Hell 

Or just stuck in-between 

By an occult spell 

Fate might have led me to stand on these grey ash-filled shores of Death 

I may now sing 

Poetic lullabies 

Lost in The Second Kingdom 

To the watching 

Gathered in revolving circles 

Lost souls

Where 

With time 

There comes 

Judgment then freedom 

Molded to rise up to Heaven

So here 

O Sacred Muse 

I'll wait in your memories gardens

Since 

I am yours 

A true love story

Standing alone on these 

Yellow shores 

Waiting by Purgatorio 

Black ornate gates 

For you to arrive 

The only woman I loved 

When I was

Once alive

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared via fair usage policy from Pinterest.

The Tale of The Penitent Man

 

(A lone voice whispers. Looking skywards.)

Oh, my old love of anything linked to emotional heresy

Do you still miss me

You 

Regal deceptive beauty and queen of all tempestuous ecstasy 

Who guided me by sinful blindness and fornication

To be my own worst enemy

In a deep physical need for things of physical substance and for sexual security 

Bound to one 

Or two persons 

In greed 

And that's why I was deplorably cursed 

To wander lost 

Until The High Trinity in Unity

Told me 

Dost Thou in our presence 

Abide by our sacred ways 

To in penitence 

Rise with morning praise 

Recant 

And burn out 

All your old sinful heresy 

So we can rejoice 

And reign in Thee

Num sigillum nostrum ad sanandum accipis?

(Will you accept our seal to heal?)

Now as I hear angelic anthems 

Awakened in the sanctity of forever silence 

Enriched with gifts of piety for clarity 

I cry 

Oh Hear Me 

Thou Almighty Kings

Hear my praises 

Each morning as

I rise 

Before sunrise 

To kneel and sing

For heresy is a dangerous red and golden ring 

To wear

So I swear 

Fealty 

And whisper 

In the low hours 

Praise be to The High Trinity in Unity

All heavenly hosts 

For welcoming me into their blessed community 

To commune for purification with

The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Image shared under fair usage policy from Pinterest.

Foundation of the piece.

I recently met a once-broken man, who found his salvation in a new found faith. 

Salute.