. Poetry from The Great In-Between

Sunday, August 10, 2025

The Wastelands of Shibboleth

 


Foundation of the piece:


Does devotion and an otherworldly melancholy—but not despair—still exist beyond all we know?


And the does the power of love and memory, even when flesh fades. Even though simultaneously mournful and hopeful:


Inspire those we love who watch and hopefully wait?


What do you think?


Title:


The Wastelands of Shibboleth. 


(A lone voice whispers)


These nights are so long 


Now that I've crossed this dark sea with the child of Erebus


Singing the Coming Home Song


"I'm bringing them home Your Honor. For in life


They can go no further 


So we're all coming home to you


Our spirits, father, to a land undreamed of”


But I sometimes wonder, do you still miss me


My only love


As I stand beyond the third rock 


Now that I'm pain-free


For I'll still love you as long as the Hurrian Hymn is played 


Even as long as heartfelt prayers are made


To the peaks of the highest snow-covered mountains 


And into the deep depths of Agartha hidden fountains


My soul may be unreachable

And out of sight every night


Brought about by our Lord and Grace


But always remember I'm here


Just waiting in a pristine white room in a unique place


Where through my obsidian scrying glass


I can still see your beautiful face


By sun and moon, rain or shine


Fire or candlelight


To love you is all I now have 


To carry me through these endless nights


In these Barren Lands


To remind me, you were once mine, even though I've taken my last breath


When Death Messenger Charon called


I'll still love you through all the tragedies


As Thane of Glamis loved his Lady Macbeth 


For sometimes faith in love is all you can use


When you have nothing left to lose


So when God made me take my last breath


With a wave of his hand, like Nero of Rome


So I can hear the child of Erebus


Singing the Coming Home Song


I made his messenger Titan promise


That I'l see you better than ever, even after death 


When you too join me here in Shibboleth


The Wastelands 


Filled with those no longer wearing flesh 


(C) Copyright John Duffy


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Have you been seduced by the Principalities?

 


Have you been seducešŸ˜d by the Principalities?


(A lone voice whispers)


Have you really paused and looked around


Looked hard at what you found 


Will you too wake up to the hidden powers seemingly influencing society


Resist being controlled or distracted, and take a stand for truth, justice, and the preservation of humanity and the Earth


For when the hidden Principalities, the dark rulers of the wickedness of this world in high place, cast their spells


To draw you deeper into their flesh and blood, version of hell


Through telephone obsidian scrying glass or social media 


Using AI


When the hidden Principalities try to confuse and use you


As old plans are discussed, in their new dark lands of Kus


Will you fall overpowered into their traps without a fuss


Or rise up empowered from the dust


To be never devoured, unlike some of the world's many political cowards


But endeavor for peace and justice, tranquility, and bliss


Freedom and the ability to address whatever you choose to profess


I can only pray you choose to rise


For the soul of the Ancestral Mother cries


Her world is on the brink, and all could end within a nuclear blink


On any given sunrise


So do you pray for hope, to try to find a way to help those deemed others, and the Ancestral Mother, cope


Or will you too? Like so many 


Warm and fed. Stay seated on the fence 


Until they come for you to join their endless ranks of the dead.


(C) Copyright John Duffy

Ephesians 6:12 states: 

"For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." 

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Friday, August 8, 2025

Hotel Las Mythos

 


Foundation.


Are you a stylist—who likes entwining metaphors, even mythology, around a vivid blue maypole—using poetic, realistic, or speculative literary fiction? 


Hotel Las Mythos


(A lone voice whispers)


Mythical or real landscapes

Heros

Villains


Engaging characters

The Good to the Bad


The full spectrum of society under the house of the rising sun 


Some walking

Some always on the run


Are you too in the writing business, for creating just something is always so incredible it can never be outdone?


Especially painting surreal or real imagery 


With your self-signed Gatling gun?


(C) Copyright John Duffy 


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Channeling Randolph Carter

 


Have you come across H.P. Lovecraft before?


Randolph Carter is a legendary character often appearing in Lovecraft’s eerie, occult atmospheric works—with mythical invitations, unknown realms, and imminent life-changing situations. 


He represents a dreamwalker stepping into cosmic darkness and engaging forces beyond the boundaries of reality. 


And of course he loves poetry. Maybe he's just like you?

A profound storyteller.


Channeling Randolph Carter

 

(A lone voice whispers) 

  

At the Most High Temple, on the unmapped mountains 

  

Once climbed recklessly by illuminated souls such as Nostradamus or Louis Bellefontaine 

  

To meet the neverending sensation 

  

The imperceptible incarnation emitting that magnetic pull and lull in the falling rain 

  

Which haunted their every waking second and vivid day dreams


With its unwarranted invasion 

  

Who many contemporary colleagues 

  

Then viewed as touched with a trace of darkened Lilith Madness 

  

For when the Mighty Dagon


The mythical beast of the Deep North Sea 

  

Heard my calls for knowledge and wisdom 

  

Sent blowing like paper boats

Sailing through the world's silence 

  

Of the vicious violence in the Middle East 

  

Overflowing with prayers, spiritually charged with erratic need 

  

He, too, sent me a personal invitation


Which would lead me into a new age of transformation 

  

To the lonely place where I lived by the raging sea


Known only to a select few

As The Shadow and Key 

  

The Dagon, an invisible invader of the human thalamus 

  

The Dream Walker 

Whisperer in the darkness 

  

Came to me in Kansas

At midnight  


With lightning and thunder announcing his sudden arrival

At the Shadow and Key 

  

It told me deep occult secrets 

Only kept in the heavily guarded vaults


Beyond the Blue Door of the Marianas Trench 

  

Sealed by incarnations and potent harming spells, to deflect the Broken 

  

Seething and entrenched with dark dreams, seeking only revenge 

  

It spoke of red wars and red rivers


Broken dreams

Torn minds and souls 

  

Power-hungry controlled pawns used by unspoken things like it 

  

Supernatural creatures 

 

Which create their new forms of piety by handing out subliminal lyric sheets 

  

So they can keep the hypnotized singing their war songs 

  

It warned me of a lady in blue 

  

A shadowwalker who would soon call to the Shadow and Key 

  

And offer me glorious pleasure as we lay entwined by the sea  


It said chose wisely for the red wars 

  

The red rivers of broken dreams and torn minds and souls 

  

Would soon need someone strong 

  

To lessen the blows from those pulling the strings 

  

For the unseen monsters in control 

  

Someone to soothe their pain by illuminated prose 

  

And then, with a crash of white lightning 

 

Striking the fireplace clock

Right in its timekeeper's small face 

  

It was gone 

  

The Mighty Dogan told me a time and date 


She would arrive 

  

Idh-yaa, or to some Quum-yaa, Cthulhu's Mate


(C) Copyright John Duffy 


Image: Google.


Thursday, August 7, 2025

Desolation Row.

 

Foundation.


A poem that takes one on a twisting journey through an emotional rollercoaster to hopefully reach rebirth. 


Examining the trauma of lost love, the ache that loiters, ending with the resolute mutual human perception of seeking redemption.


Breaking up with someone carries such trauma. 


Have you too walked on Desolation Row?


Title.

Desolation Row.


(A lone voice whispers)


Did you know Love and sorrow are one? 


This I know now. 


For even the sky needs the winds, rain, and snow. 


Just like some of Mother Nature's mesmerizing things, Which can never be outrun. 


Have you too walked on Desolation Row and felt them both? 


Rode in those two crazy boats?


Wore one of their red or gray housecoats?


Clinging on steadfastly from love to sorrow, coast to coast?


Filled with wild desires and hopes?


Powered on relentlessly.


By a hot or cold silent knowledge, feeling like a surety bond.


Of a strange fire from the Great Beyond?


But like baby seeds, dreaming of birth, praying for the sun's blazing fire to grow.


Waiting deep below within the Earth.


With a heart dreaming of a new spring.

A new rebirth.


Are you still waiting for those hidden golden bells to ring? 


To start of freedom, sing?


Or do you still wear that gray housecoat and just die inside every time? 


As you think of them.


While floating metaphorically alone.


Into the fading blue like a white feather, blowing lonely in the cold winds.


Beneath a heartless sky?


Which always seems to be standing, smiling, and watching in all weathers.


Only to then melt into the early morning sun. 


For all things, all said and done.


What is it to escape needing? 


When you have no loved ones or tall tales to be spun?


But to try to find freedom in a new kingdom.


One that rises and falls with the tides of mortal new hellos and old goodbyes.


If it could be seen.


For when you've walked in those shallow rivers of silence to endlessly die.


To taste its sweet musk of defiance as you inside cry.


You too might sing like me. 

Oh Hosanna, Oh Hosanna.


For to reach the mountaintop, you too shall begin to pray to climb. 


To take a sip from Absolutions ceremonial silver cup.


To try to put on love's red housecoat once again.


For when you reached rock bottom in relationships.


The only way is

 up.


(C) Copyright John Duffy


Painting by Filip Petrovic.

Shared under fair usage policy.

Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Do you like supernatural poetry?

 


Foundation.


Do you like supernatural poetry?


The Invocation of Xo


(A lone voice whispers)


Within these enticing words is a manifestation of magic from me.


An incantation from my higher self.


My spirit.

For you to take to the crypt.

Beyond all your eyes can ever see.


Ven y quƩdate conmigo.


For within these magical words, I sign my secret name within this poetic invocation.


Deeply into your hypothalamus, sweetly and slow.


Ven y quƩdate conmigo.


To unconsciously follow you like a little hobo everywhere you go.


Ven y quƩdate conmigo.


I've cast this now you've read it as our own individual spell.


To allow you to carry me within your each and every cell and breath.

Until our deaths.


Ven y quƩdate conmigo.


So I can see you grow from spring to the last winter's snow.


From above and below: 

Ven y quƩdate conmigo.


You’re inviting me in, whether you know it or not.


Ven y quƩdate conmigo


Admit our love. 

So this won't stop.

Merge with me.


So I can help carry you through any rain or teardrops.


So say after me mentally as you read this:


Ven y quĆ©date conmigo. Come and stay with me Xo.


And I will come with the beating sounds of your heart's rhythmic drums.


Just say really low.


Ven y quƩdate conmigo. Come and stay with me, Xo.


(C) Copyright John Duffy 


Translation:


Ven y quƩdate conmigo. Come and stay with me.


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Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Apocalyptic Dreams

 


Apocalyptic Dreams


(A lone voice sits remembering August the sixth and whispers)


I will see the old system break. 


I will see those condemned by fate. 

Walk and cross Diablos Gate as the sky turns gray. 


When ash-filled clouds roll my way. 


In the heavens, high above, as the last horn blows.


As something heavy rises from its throne.


I shall watch like Nero once watched Rome. As angels pass by, guiding the good home.


Before the bringers of chaos, plant seeds in the minds of those:


Who secretly pleads to be sown. And when the red rivers and black seas pull back. 


As the storm clouds prepare to attack.


I shall shout in that falling rain. 


"Where are you, Saint Michael, the angel of peace?”


As I bow my head low in defeat. 


Hoping to hear a choir sing and golden bells ring. 


But if nothing appears and I hear a sound like a soft whisper from Death, I will go lay with the many other slaves. 


Played like fools, using secretive tools to subdue.


Across all airwaves from secret enclaves.


And smile as the first rocket lands in the sand near our houses. Soon to be our graves.


Knowing no one shall win.

Especially those marked by sin.


Who meet in secret in their conclaves


(C) Copyright John Duffy 


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Sunday, August 3, 2025

The Golden Thread

 

Just thought I'd share this audiobook I wrote and produced after my beloved sister crossed over.


It's based on a dream I had after the church service.


One of the greatest questions humanity asks is, “Is there life after death?”


Have a listen; it might help you if you're grieving.


It's only 45 minutes long, and tell me what you think. Salute.

The link is below.

#love #relationships #grief 

The Golden Thread


Sanctuary Love

 


Foundation.


If you're a couple, have you discussed the thought of what you'd do if one of you crossed over first?


Sanctuary Love


(A lone voice whispers)


When I sometimes sit quietly still and remember 


What I once said in all that plummeting snow and rain 


Stuck in such terrible weather on that extraordinary day


In that unusually brutal winter season


Way back in late November


Thirteen years ago in two thousand and eight


I whispered that if anything takes place in this lifetime 


Between you and me, and we tragically lose our way


While we're still both alive and joined at the hip


If the Tall Man should arrive and take one of us home 


Suddenly, without any regal announcements or real reasons 


Let's pledge a sacred oath to each other 


That we'll wait wherever we are


Forever empowered by a god-given hope


To keep believing that the other will catch up 


No matter how long it takes 


Or even if they have to travel so far 


To beyond even all the known watching stars


Filled with the steadfast courage


That no matter how many strange doors 


They might have to knock on to open


Or to put their gilded keys in


They'll try to find a way we can embrace and hold hands again


For ours is something so unique


A once in a million lifetime of being constantly reborn 


Whatever the circumstance


To eventually realise that the true meaning of life 


A life-changing revelation beyond the norm if one dares to take a chance 


Lies in the soft arms of something so unique


Many wise prophets still call it by its favourite ancient and well-spoken name 


Even today, known as simply true romance 


I once swore 


I'd never leave your side and you swore even upon death


You'd never leave mine


And we dreamed as we walked and talked


About how someday in the near future


We'd sit outside on our own marble porch 


And in the fall of the Twilight 


Smile as we counted our blessings


Before we retired for an early night 


In our own paid-for house filled with love and our two beloved children


But like most of the preordained lovers in history


Our dream ended up so differently, and I feel so neglected 


When your rare blue and purple butterfly was collected 


Wait for me, my love

I won't be long 


(C) Copyright John Duffy 


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Saturday, August 2, 2025

The voice of Ponyboy

 


  Foundation.


What would an Outsider say if they could view humanity as a whole?


The voice of Ponyboy


(A lone voice whispers from The Great In-Between)


As I view the world from in here

It just fills me with a sense of ever-growing fear


I can see so much suffering.

And seemingly endless pain


The world is awash in the throes of all those

Those who are just so corrupt


Blindly trying to secure.

All they can gain


They need to be stopped.

To be defeated by the rising consciousness

Of a reunited and renewed humanity


Don’t let your planet.

Go to waste

It’s never too late


Look at Fukushima

The rising levels of destitution

Racism, cleverly conjured up, leading to separation

Secret societies

Human traffickers  

The homeless numbers rising


The endless lines of the hungry and the poor

Starvation


For if you all don’t rise and do more.


The Four Horsemen from the Bible

Will just ride in and stand in full view


In every country

Governmental pews


To control all corrupt governments, black and white

Dance floors


Heralded by all this talk of nuclear war

Funded marches and bankrolled doctors and politicians

Who are all part of that deep state infernal machine


Your world

Needs the means to breathe


Don’t be one of the many who turn a blind eye?


And when it all turns black

Don’t be one of the many.

Like those already in here


Don’t give your soul.

Another reason to grieve


Fight for a new freedom.

Give your life a reason.


To change the future

You just have to believe and try not to be deceived.


(C) Copyright John Duffy


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The Call of the Ala--Kai