. Poetry from The Great In-Between

Monday, December 23, 2024

The Invitation

 


The Invitation

(A seductive voice whispers as incense fills the air)

Sat within here
A discarded loop in time and space

Within this room

I see you all in the distance
Shimmering through

Like bright pink desert mirages

In your living tombs

Stood alone
In my magical circle of no rehearsals

Chanting Yaruba tribes
Ancient magical rites

Summoning up the populous of Godhead

So I the shaman can call to you

“When the living ground eats the breathing Sun, I will open the secret doors to take you home.

For eating and tasting words like a new, Grace Dent, at Lent, isn't for you.

Just write this down and burn it in the back garden on a piece of paper.

I'm ready,
Come and take me to the secret amphitheatre

Where the voices of the Serpent

The Beast
And God take to its stage

To showcase who they've taken home and played.”

To then write out your own name in the ruined temples books

Before you line up to watch

Before they return
And choose
Before you are took

And I'll call within a heartbeat

To take you East
To meet

Either God or the Beast

(C)
Copyright John Duffy

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Sunday, December 22, 2024

The Midnight Hunters from The Black and Blue Lodge

 



The Midnight Hunters from The Black and Blue Lodge 


(A sad lone voice whispers)


My old love 

Loved shaking her crow blacked hair 


As old daydreams tumbled around her


Like autumn leaves in the air 


On any given day or night 


Dreams of divinity

Of God and light 


Like the first thing you see when you close your eyes at night


Temporal spaces filled with familiar faces


Crooning like nameless mockingbirds

Under a watchful moon


Dreams of us as a pair

Regale my eyes with surreal memories of us


Everywhere I now look since God closed that Crimson Book 


Us entwined at sea 

Surrounded by floating red roses as seagulls watched


Laughing like playful innocent school children

Free from all fears and good behaviour


But now the

Ancient Ones have called at midnight to remind me


“Those who once laid entwined in their sea as their seagulls watched 


Will soon get a visit 


From The Midnight Hunters from The Black and Blue Lodge”


(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

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Saturday, December 21, 2024

The Craft


 The Craft 


(A lone voice speaks to a crowd of poets)


You do know everyone has their own magical style 


A style filled with such wild illustrious promises and kaleidoscope's of such deep vivid depths


For in poetry

No stone is left uncovered, 

Ranging from life to death


Whispers of love’s wild explosive adrenaline filled triumphs 


Everlasting hope or altarpieces of self-fulfillment


Descents into darkness

Opening portals to dimensions of festive destruction


And at the core for the inquisitive 


The Red Flag

The smiling frown

Up or down 


The fire to ignite a curious reader's eyes to the soul 


That really matters

Is the what

Why and guile


It's quite simple

It's why everyone has their own magical style 


For there is no guide to the labyrinth of the mind


When you enter poetry's smiling black and white turnstiles


And line up to read or write


 With so many other groups of people who are still walking or standing still in history


In single file


(C)

Copyright John Duffy 


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Winter's Solstice


Winter's Solstice 


(A lone voice whispers)


Will you

Come all


Yes,

Yea and dance


For

In the deepest woods

In that old

Woodland grove


Something stirs


An electric emotion

Consuming the very air


Can you feel

Its pulse

And all consuming

Power


Would you attend as

An invited guest

With me

And dance


Go wild

And let your mind and soul

Be held prisoner


As they are

Slowly deflowered


Beyond all worldly

Fears

As unknown spirits advance


Would you still attend

As a guest of mine


To visit my dark midnight

Winter Festival


To communicate

And bind with the

Deep divine


To be totally lost

And absorbed in its

Yellow ring

Of supernatural lights


Which will

Swirl all around us

As we breathe in

Its ancient dust


To watch and wonder

At the

Opening of hidden gateways


Above us

And below us


A spell to be cast in dark skies

By illuminated souls


Between time and space

As we prepare and stand


Hidden from

The mundane

Human race


To see a new brave world

Soon ours to summon

And command


Where

Nothing but goodness

And love will fill our old

Souls


For tonight

We will dance

With our pagan ancestors of old


It's our time of year

As we will

This supernatural festival

To arrive


To embrace maybe painful

Embers and emotions

Of Winter's long past


That may have survived


To then

Embrace old Mother Spring

The goddess of all living things


As she slowly awakes

And begins to gradually

Materialise


A flurry of cold memories

Hidden in mystical snow

To beguile


Will

You dance


Beyond wet

Tears for people


We always remember

Who have died


As we may cry


For tonight

On this pagan eve


We shall live forever


For we baptised

To be eternal


And will never

Die beyond


All who can truly see

As their reawakened

Souls


Cry out

Blessed Be


Copyright John Duffy


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Merry Christmas


 Like paper boats

Floating in the Eternal Ocean


We sometimes

Come together


In the commotion  

And stillness of Time and whisper


Have a Merry Christmas


As we share the First Law of the Chosen


By expressing our devotion

To other

Travellers


In the

Eternal Ocean


Those from business

Friends and families who seek to assist us


To help them 

Not to feel unwanted

Or frozen


So this whisper is for you

In the commotion  

And stillness of Time


Merry Christmas 


(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Image shared under fair usage policy 

Thursday, December 19, 2024

A 21st Century Question?

 

A 21st Century Question?


Do people still need real human poetry in the 21st century 


Some still ask as AI plagiarizes when put to task


To be the social connectors

The innovation and invitation 


To new or old, writers

Adored heroes

Thought leaders


To breathe form from the intangible into their quiet lives


For them to taste the twist and guile of the Mysteries Schools


Poetry in all its many magical ceremonial forms provides


For soon

Each and every quest will end in a visit to a lone watchtower 


In the mind


And when one is on the other side watching from those parapets


AI won't help 


Because only real created human poetry will help you once again remember


Through someone else's shared experience 


In rhymes


All those people and things you once loved


So you don't forget 

With the passing of time


(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

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Was your Grandma wise too?


 

(A lone voice whispers)


One day, 

The rain will stop

People won't judge what you got 


One day,

The pain will stop

No more gossiping from the rooftops


One day,

All that will remain 

Is the peace you got


For the start of true love is an inside job


All these things 

My Grandma once said

Along with


Be you 

Like a raindrop in a desert


People will either love you or won't be able to find you


But it won't matter

What will matter is


You'll be a raindrop in a desert for just someone special 


And on that day

When it comes


Just keep praying 

The rain will stop


People won't matter if they judge what you don't got 


On that day,

The pain will stop


You'll stop hearing gossiping from the rooftops


And on that special day

All that will remain 


Is the peace you share

With someone who cares


For true love can start with just a single raindrop


Like finding your favourite book of poetry 


In a second hand shop


(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

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The last letter by James Ottawa


The last letter by James Ottawa


Journal Entry

4005


December 

28th

1986


In this crazy long night

Like all the many others


Before I lost my beloved child's mother

In 75'


Whenever God shines his white light

Through the Moon


To my tiny window in Tupelo, Mississippi


I hear him 

Whispering this to me


Have I told you lately

My poor child

While you're still alive


Soon you'll bring it all home to me


All those wild nights

And precious times


When you were set free

With someone like you


So on sad days like this

After your love

Your precious Domino fell


See my light

Look to the moon


And yell 


Hallelujah

Lord, hear my name


Into the falling rain 

And always remember 


I hear all those who cry out in pain


And still see all those days you all were born to be free


For all love never dies but always remains 


So don't cry

But lift up your hearts


For by me

Stands your all your Dominos


Waiting for you


To once more be set free

But this time


To see

What the living can't see


With yours whispering

Tell him 


My husband 


His child's

Mama knows

He's gotta know


This place in Heaven

Is the ultimate picture show


So be patient my son

Your race will soon be run


And that white light you see 

Shining through the moon


When your time comes

The moon opens up like a doorway


A portal 


And when your astral cord is broken 


You'll see the white light turn into a bridge leading you into it


And when your feet touches that floor


When that door closes

All will be made whole

Once more 


Then the words been spoken 


Fades


It's the same usually every few days but today


Today 

I'm sure that moon looks to be ope


(C)

Copyright John Duffy 


Image shared under fair usage policy
 

Wednesday, December 18, 2024

The Grimore of Light Filled with Dark Regrets

A voice whispered at 1 am. 


As I sit alone at the worn gates of Yesterday


Looking through the Past's

White painted windows 

Unafraid 


Lost in deep thoughts as I watch once lost memories 


Drive past like a new presidential JFK motorcade 


Looking closely at the happy and sad games 

We once played


You and me 

Eventually 

Holding hands tightly 


Whilst the ungodly Gossiping band


Loudly played

As our Titanic slowly sunk


I can still see

Reflected in your deliciously dark eyes


The night I surrendered 


A magical night 

I'll always remember


But as all things 

In my cursed life 


Everything changed as

The metaphorical iceberg struck 


And our love slowly drowned as it

Shrunk 


That seemingly endless night we once shared


Is it now torn beyond all repair 


You were once all I ever needed

And will never forget


But as I still live in here

Wandering through the Alabaster Hall 


Of

The Great In-Between 


I will always write your beloved name


Using beautiful syllables 

In my eternal book of spells


Beside other failed dreams 

Called


The Grimore of Light 

Filled with Dark Regrets


Where you'll forever live 

As I sometimes sit at the gates of yesterday 


Once again 

Wandering through green fields of yellow memories 


Still clinging onto fragments of your sensuous silhouette


Somewhere 

If you can hear me


I hope our old love 

Still in your heart as in mine 


Holds forever strong


With memories of me 

As it too


Pirouettes


Before it too enters your

Grimore of Light 

Filled with Dark Regrets


(C)

Copyright John Duffy

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The voice of Lola


 The voice of Lola 


I heard a whisper that once said 


When you are dead

In another realm 

When you ascend


If a sudden stranger comes up to you and says 


Thanks for looking after me 

When we both lived


And gives you a big warm hug or a sweet kiss on the cheek 


Don't be frightened 


It could be one of your pets welcoming you home


For all spirits take many forms as they evolve 


Why do you think so many people like jogging or walking 


Swimming 

Climbing or talking


Me 

I probably was a parrot in a past life


Before I fell under Soul Transmigration's sharp knife


(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Memories