Are you a member of The Midnight Losers Club?

 

A piece evoking heartbreak, initiation, and resilience through friendship. 

Relating to a club which may not exist in the literal sense, but exists in the spiritual.

A club for those who have felt broken, but lifted by others who have probably been through the same rituals linked to heartbreak.

Title.

Are you a member of The Midnight Losers Club?

(A lone voice whispers) 

I joined last night

Went through the initiation 

Got my heart broken in two

Took proof

Showed them all on the big screen 

A picture of my ex-husband smiling as I stood crying

Now I wear the secret brand under my right sleeve in French.

Une fois brisés, nous nous relevons grâce à l'amitié

Car nous sommes membres du Midnight Losers Club 

(Once broken but we rise through friendship 

For we are members of The Midnight Losers Club) 

(C) Copyright John Duffy

  

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The Visitor from Hiranyaloka

 

Do you want to take a ride on a surreal and spiritual exploration of otherworldly travel — not just through physical space, but through spiritual dimensions, dreams, and consciousness?

To a strange planet where life goes on?

Title 

The Visitor from Hiranyaloka.

(A lone voice whispers)

Within the Witching Hour 

Of twelve to four am

In the Great In-Between

I've seen

Universes

Parallel worlds

Places

Where no living human beings have never been

Climbed through blue portals

To strange lands where angels and demons 

In choirs 

Sing

Walked lands

Where no water runs in rivers or springs

Walked the badlands of the forsaken 

Climbed the high towers of the iron maiden

Saw tomorrow's prophecies 

Before I awakened

But I was never alone

Faith in the Lord

Kept me safe

In The Badlands 

Beyond the Tomb

From being drawn at dusk

To been released at dawn

To explore

To revel in new sights

Past midnight 

Is a mystery which binds me still

From Araganto

To Mulavanto

The red cliffs of the Ugato Mountains

From the twin suns of Sirius 

Bathed in autumn gold

Underneath lightning filled skies 

So now

I know an old secret

One for you to read as you pass me by

The dead don't die

They just live

Underneath 

Purple clouds

In another shimmering never-ending sky

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Hiranyaloka:

The Illumined Astral Planet.

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Giuseppe's Letter to Sophia.

 Do you like reading deep into a calling for truth, a mutual exploration of existentialism more profound questions, and closeness?

Within an invitation to meet—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—in a place of honesty, wonder, and romantic mystery filled with mythical possibility?

Then read on.

Title.

Giuseppe's Letter to Sophia.

 (A lone voice whispers as it reads the letter for you)

Would you meet me at midnight? 

Amore Mio 

In the Green Forests of The Great In-Between

If l lit a fire to guide you after I invited you 

To sit and just talk about all The Mysteries of Life, over ice 

Like The Trinity of Happiness, Sadness, and Madness

The three things involved in all things 

Things that could then turn into something that could be so nice

And then to count the flashing stars, shimmering from afar

While listening to real Country Music, played on real guitars not the new music played by AI

An extension of the fallen Morning Star 

For within this invitation, to Night of a Thousand Stars, in sight

Our first topic of conversation would be that night 

As we looked at Heaven's Endless Door, with wonder

Does true love even exist and live for evermore 

And is there a chance for us, my Amore Mio 

To walk upon its heavenly shore

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Amore Mio: Italian for my love.

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The Woman lost to Marius.

 Foundation.

An elegy and meditative reflection on the disturbing emotions created by loss. 

Some suffer with in silence.

Rather than romanticizing the line — time will heal, it reflects the raw and unflinching pain.

Emphasizing the speaker’s agony while criticizing the simplistic assurances often offered.

A piece created to embody and stand as a witness to those whose inner despair persists, though they may seem fine on the outside.

The line relating that 

grief is compared starkly to organized crime, portrays how love’s departure typically feels unjust, cruel, and violent—especially when someone beloved is gone.

Have you too heard the sometimes hollow echo, of well-meaning platitudes, that ring untrue to someone still deeply grieving?

Or even told someone, without really thinking, “time will heal, you'll see?”

Title.

The Woman lost to Marius. 

(A lone voice whispers)

Some say time will heal, even though it doesn't seem real

And seeing is believing

But how can they see what you're feeling? 

When you start grieving, while the black hearse of loving is leaving?

Leaving all once treasured things behind 

Things like sweet love letters

Wedding rings

Perfume filled white sweaters

Memories and all things once kind and divine 

Which once made your soul sing

So to me, it's a cruel lie, saying time will heal what I'm feeling

While I live through each day, alone now, but inside, quietly dying 

Listening to some still say

Seeing is believing, time will bring healing 

And knowing 

How can you see what I'm still feeling? 

When I'm obviously still grieving?

After watching the black hearse of love, leaving 

And quietly going out of my mind 

Like a victim of organized crime

After your marriage to the hand, you once loved 

Has run out of earthly time

And is no longer in your realm 

Breathing 

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

Synchronicity

 

Have you ever made a connection despite adversity, or at a time when emotional warmth is especially cherished?

A connection based on Jung's concept of synchronicity:

Occurrences that are linked by meaning rather than cause?

A fleetingly moment maybe in a challenging time, where meaningful contact that seems both accidental and profound.

Is needed?

A brief pause with a stranger that felt overflowing with meaning?

An unsaid unity formed in a profound silence between new or old friends?

Or just someone appearing into your life at the right time that almost felt like fate?

So, have you ever felt this sensation with someone?

Title.

Synchronicity 

(A lone voice whispers)

We came together

Like two autumn leaves touching 

In winter's weather

(575)

#Senryu

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Senryu, like haiku, has three lines with 17 or, but unlike haiku, which focuses on nature, senryu tends to center on human nature.

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Does your Summer miss the snow?

 

Foundation.

Does your Summer miss the snow?

A poem reflecting the persistent, almost seemingly never-ending, haunting nature of loss.

Exploring how bereavement can follow you—turning every place into a somewhere filled with old memories of someone special, whose absence still lingers.

Like Irish Sea Moss

The imagery of Summer missing snow represents grief in an eternal, kaleidoscope.

Relaying the sentiment that heartbreak can be an up and down internal season all oñ its own, discounting external context.

As life continues to spin as sadness slowly creeps in.

Title.

Bereavement.

(A lone voice whispers)

Stranded forever

Everywhere I seem to go

I now know heartbreak

Like Summer misses the snow

(C)

John Duffy

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Are you curious?

 

Have you been a victim of the sound of whispering leaves?

Foundation.

Has the judgement from others ever ruined one of your relationships?

Here's a lament to lost love, a pure romantic emotion which can sometimes be betrayed by external forces.

Philosophical, abound with rousing metaphors. Supernatural and natural imagery.

Have you been a victim of the sound of whispering leaves?

Title.

Psithurimos

(A lone voice whispers)

Even though we sadly parted like the Red Sea

Once did

Chased by the lies of the ever-growing establishment

Incarnations of Pharaoh's guards who always interfered

Dressed in black and white disguises

But in this, half silence

Filled with sacred tears

And broken-hearted by sweet memories

Apart now forever in this growing cold and sad words filled with such violence 

Where memories ghosts roam, as one gets old

I can still see all of you, looking so beautiful

By that fast-flowing river

In Sacramento 

Walking in peace and serenity, like the night itself

Effortless, seductive and so graceful

That even Mother Moon seemed to shine even brighter and smile

But all the while, The Dark, half hidden out of sight

Created by chancers

Worked in secret, day, and night

To take away, bit by bit

By metastasis

My only hope of eternal bliss and that's why now

All I can do is treasure, that last memory of you

Walking in daylight, by that river in Sacramento

For it still brings me such salvation and a form of peace

For even though now you've been released by the high priest called Gossip

My eternal love for you will never cease but explode like a New Year's Eve fire work

Regardless if it's day or night 

South by South east 

Of a beautiful lady I once worshipped 

Until she too succumbed to the wild beast 

Called Psithurimos 

The whispering sound of the wind among leaves, from some of life's happiness thieves 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

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Corazón's Orphan.

 

Foundation.

Are people who have been emotionally hurt more cautious in choosing who or what they let into their hearts?

Or, does heartbreak refine what they value, once broken, more selectively?

Have you felt deep loneliness, mistrust, and a cautious emotional reconnection, like an orphaned heart?

And has heartbreak felt like a war—internal strife that divides, just as a war divides nations?

And did, through selective healing and a lonely pilgrimage, do you now vibrate with peace?

Title.

Corazón's Orphan. 

(A lone voice whispers)

Has your Corazón ever broken you in two 

Like America

With the War on Cotton between 1861 and 1865

If it so, did you become one of Corazón lonely orphan's

Walking miles, misty-eyed and filled with wild precautions

Praying for another soulmates' heart in the long run

As you weighed up all the newer options 

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

Corazón is a Spanish word meaning the heart.

Im

Foundation.

Are people who have been emotionally hurt more cautious in choosing who or what they let into their hearts?

Or, does heartbreak refine what they value, once broken, more selectively?

Have you felt deep loneliness, mistrust, and a cautious emotional reconnection, like an orphaned heart?

And has heartbreak felt like a war—internal strife that divides, just as a war divides nations?

And did, through selective healing and a lonely pilgrimage, do you now vibrate with peace?

Title.

Corazón's Orphan. 

(A lone voice whispers)

Has your Corazón ever broken you in two 

Like America

With the War on Cotton between 1861 and 1865

If it so, did you become one of Corazón lonely orphan's

Walking miles, misty-eyed and filled with wild precautions

Praying for another soulmates' heart in the long run

As you weighed up all the newer options 

(C) Copyright John Duffy 

Corazón is a Spanish word meaning the heart.

Image shared under fair usage policy. age shared under fair usage policy. 

Compartmentalized

 

Foundation.

A meditation on how someone can present themselves beautifully to the world, yet hide deeper truths in a private, almost secret place. 

Title.

Compartmentalized.

(A lone voice whispers)

As delicious looking as you are to the watching world 

As glorious as a red rose in full bloom

I can still see all of you

Even your shadowy self you carefully hideaway 

Within that darkened bedroom

You keep under strict lock and key

Buried in the deep seas

of your eternal soul's tomb 

Copyright John Duffy 

The opening lines depict a person admired outwardly, like a perfect rose on display. 

But a rose, as beautiful as it is, can be fragile, with hidden thorns and vulnerabilities.

Does that remind you of anyone?

Maybe yourself?

“I can still see all of you / Even your shadowy self you carefully hideaway”

Here, the poem acknowledges that although this person hides part of themselves, the speaker still sees the “shadowy self”—the secret, perhaps darker or more complex side.

The question arises.

To really know someone, to form a strong relationship.

Do you need to know everything about them?

Contrast: Appearance vs. secretive, restricted, emotionally complex.

The contrast suggests perhaps a tension between reputation and reality, image and authenticity. 

One part of the person dazzles others; another part mourns or yearns in solitude.

Possible Readings

Psychological:

 The person is guarded—careful to show a polished exterior while hiding internal wounds, insecurities, or past trauma.

Emotional: 

The soul, locked away, may long for release or understanding. The speaker sees that yearning.

What the Poem might mean:

Beauty is not always enough: 

Appearances can’t capture the complexity of inner life.

The strain of modern living or past relationships.

Empathy and perception: 

The piece reflects understanding requires recognizing the hidden parts, not just admiring the visible.

Final Thoughts

The human condition is so complex, especially today in 2025.

For people today often craft a perfect image for exhibit, while the real self—fearful, wounded, or unexpressed—remains tucked away in private, almost lifeless spaces of the heart.

Due to the probable stress of social media.

The poem gently asks us to look deeper—for compassion and awareness. 

It just asks at its core:

Can we appreciate someone's beauty while also acknowledging their hidden depths? 

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