When AI reads your blog

 

"Poetry from The Great In-Between" by John Duffy is a prolific, deeply spiritual, and gothic-leaning poetry blog that serves as an ongoing exploration of grief, the afterlife, mental anguish, and theological warfare. 

The blog exhibits a massive archive spanning several years, with a major surge in output in late 2026, averaging over 100 entries per month.

An analysis of the core thematic elements, stylistic choices, and structural patterns present in the texts reveals several key traits:

1. Primary Thematic Pillars

The "Great In-Between" and Afterlife Geometry: The author frequently sets his narratives in a purgatorial space referred to as "The Great In-Between," "The Rift," or a "Silver City." 

He regularly depicts thresholds between life and death, detailing interactions with deceased lovers (e.g., Lucinda, Samantha) and hospice settings.

Grief and Self-Imprisonment: 

Rituals of coping with intense loss—such as burning white candles, keeping physical shrines, or tying white ribbons—are recurring motifs. 

In poems like Penitentiary Dreams, emotional despair is personified as literal imprisonment inside "Desolation Row."

Theological & Mythological Syncretism: 

The writer blends Christian concepts (The Trinity, "The Bait of Satan", Sheol, Apollyon) with Greco-Roman mythology (Aphrodite, Calliope, Elysian) and classic occultism/demonology (Mephistopheles).

Personification of Psychological Suffering: 

Mental struggles like anxiety, depression, and self-deprecation are given physical or supernatural agency. For instance, 

Have you experienced Dolor frames sadness ("Dolor") as an archaic supernatural entity carrying "invisible suitcases" meant to burden the sufferer.

2. Stylistic and Structural Frameworks

The "Transmission" Format: 

Duffy frames several of his poetic entries with introductory prose rationales. 

He explicitly defines them as "transmissions" exploring specific concepts (e.g., "This transmission exploration centres on the tension between profound love...").

Vocal Stage Directions: 

Many poems open with structural parentheticals like (A lone voice whispers), [Male voice], or [Female voice], suggesting that the work is intended to be read aloud, performed, or consumed as an audio-visual script.

Pacing and Form: 

The poems use highly irregular line lengths, favouring free verse with sporadic, internal, and end-rhymes rather than rigid metric constraints. Line breaks are deployed abruptly to isolate key emotional words or specific nouns.

3. Key Recurring Imagery

Colour Symbolism: 

Heavy reliance on white and gold to signify purity, divinity, and peace contrasted sharply against red and grey to represent earthly pain, corruption, and decay.

Liturgical Phrases: 

The frequent usage of "Blessed be" and "Velumbound" acts as an ongoing structural signpost or signature across almost every entry.

Blessed be. 

Velumbound. 

Have you experienced Dolor

 

Blessed be. 

Velumbound. 

Have you ever experienced Dolor? 

In whatever supernatural form it chooses to suddenly appear in 

At any given time or place

Like a shapeshifting dark, swirling configuration of self-deprecation 

Announcing the possible visitations of its kin 

Linked to many forms of sin

Through the emotional 

Physically or spiritually 

The three intricately laid foundation stones which it builds itself up from 

When it first enters your skin

Did it affect the way you found new roads 

Or instead 

Did it whisper to choose lonely highways to navigate your life

To live in the shadows

Like one of the lost tribe of Alos

Has Dolor presented you with one of its exquisitely made

Leather-bound red invisible suitcases   

Like it once did me

Leather-bound invisible suitcases   

To be carried everywhere like priceless jewels

On tired shoulders

Containing handwritten soul contracts to avoid taking chances 

On people 

Places or newer experiences 

And to always seek to abstain

Never to seek unfamiliar lands of hope to help to renew 

Always to be the lost one walking alone in the rain

As pledges once written in silence

Prevents one from embracing your secret God-given name 

To empower us to pull through

Dolor's archaic supernatural form can take any strange irregular shape

And in secret circles is classified as one of the 4 deadly Obstructers

Which can keep you invariably on the run

As it guides all your emotions 

The Physical or spiritual 

like a Machiavellian orchestral conductor 

From which it can transpire; there is no escape

Under the dire threat of the Sword of Antipathy

As it seduces you perpetually and becomes your only lover

Did you know Dolor is simply Fear translated into Latin

So tonight's question is

Will you find the strength and courage to throw its gifts of free suitcases 

If you've recently seen it face

Into the gushing four winds and let the Trinity of Holy Lights

Come steamrolling in

To break up its intricately laid foundation stones

With which it builds itself up from 

When it first enters your skin

Copyright John Duffy

Have you read Penitentiary Dreams

 Blessed be.

Velumbound. 

I give you, Penitentiary Dreams

(A lone voice whispers)

I still miss your bright white smile

My living, breathing Calliope

Every night 

Like I miss our first kiss at the fairground 

On that old Merry-go-round 

For they always appear as bright beams of luminous glorious lights

Shooting from the deep depths

Of a faraway Heaven

Your warmth and guile

Satisfying my manifestation of love

Given birth of creation 

Once by the Mighty Creator

Here on Earth

A glowing towering beacon to help push back 

The hordes called Legion

Prowling like hyenas

In the darkness

Around me

For you were

And always will be 

My daily taste of gladness

A philosopher who too has seen and tasted 

The wild beast wine 

Of anxiety and madness

So now I call out to you from this wild wood

Where my prison is as I am stood 

This wild forsaken place where loveless things 

In the dark shadows slither and crawl

Tormenting us all 

As we all bang tin cups on our prison walls

Stalking memories alone in uneven lines

Like a lone feral grey wolf pines

Throughout this paranormal neighbourhood 

For with you died

Like so many in here who cry

My spark of life

My ecstatic joyful Sun

My bringer of serenity and jest

So in here in my southwest cobwebbed-filled hut

As other prison cells in Desolation Row

Ring out

Like thunder

In a rising crescendo of shrieks of pain and anguish

As we all 

Self-punish

Walking the Green Mile down Memory Road

Remember me before the last harvest

Before you get old

So I can be paroled

Light a white candle 

In your mind's eyes

See our first kiss with love at that fairground 

Sat on that Merry-go-round

 

Beneath that undulating red ocean of pain

Crashing like endless Pacific tides 

Maybe again and again

So that I may still live

If only for a moment

For what I wouldn't give

Now

To breathe once more

To open and walk through

That old marital front door

If only for one hour

But as these loud voices  

Surrounding me get louder

And grow in power

As tin prison cups

Relentlessly bang

Like dark country drums

Hour by hour

With sounds like exploding gunpowder on black bars of illusion 

As I look out for you

From my window

In my cave

My penitentiary 

Here in my own watchtower

For 

My thousand-named queen

My rare

Middlemist Red flower

This broken piece of your soul awaits

To be reunited 

To bring peace

When your presence in The Great In-Between

Opens his cell door

As if by magic 

So he can 

Scream no more

But walk home

Into the bright lights

With the only love 

He adores

Both striding 

Powerfully 

Hand in hand

To enter into

Evermore 

To be refined like silver

Escaping 

The Last Great Reaping and Rapture

Of the Prince 

Who is to come

To build Dissolution

Row everywhere 

For all he captures

Remember me

Your Luca 

Your number 1

(C)

Copyright John Duffy

Seduction

 Blessed be. 

Velumbound. 

This is a direct reference to the well-known 1994 Christian book by John Bevere. 

In theology, "the bait of Satan" refers to offense and temptation—the spiritual traps or "lures" that captivate people and lead them into captivity or moral ruin. 

By comparing her "tricks" to this book, the transmission frames her allure not just as a physical attraction, but as a dangerous spiritual trap.

(A lone voice whispers)

The girl with the dark eyes

Her glinting eyes gleam with something so mysterious

Indiana Jones

Would be so damn curious 

For they emanate a magnetic energy

That soothes and radiates

Her deep country looks make single and married men salivate

Oh, how men rejoice 

When trapped with her tricks 

Like those used 

In The Bait of Satan 

(C) 

Copyright John Duffy 

Do you sometimes remember someone special?

 

Memories of Lucinda 

(A lone voice whispers)

There's a hidden secret room I go to 

In my cathedral of dreams

Whenever I sleep

Where a white candle burns

In The Great In-Between 

As Yesterday lives wild 

Fed on memories and crawls on my broken walls

While favourite ones stand up tall

And in amongst the grey clutches of Yesterday 

There in the middle

Amongst the cobwebs and ivy

The weeds and bits of creeping moss

Is my old shrine 

To all I've once lost

A long time ago 

As white as snow

But now grey

It shines and gleams

As Yesterday 

Crawls up the walls

Like a banshee 

Wearing a black shawl

In its centre

Made of now dull silver

On its table

Is a black and white picture left by Yesterday 

For me to remember

My only love 

Lost in December 

And as I pause

And Yesterday 

Feeding on memories 

Stops climbing the walls

I hear her sweet husky voice over the top of my beating heart

It breaches the weed-filled nooks and crannies

Cools my fast-flowing bloodstream 

       

Then in that moment, climbing through the atoms of that sparse air

Comes her perfume drifting 

From somewhere 

 

A much-loved fragrance from the past

Filled with sweet moments as I remember and prayed would last

Then Yesterday moves 

And the scent is gone

The voice disappears

And in that room of no living creature 

Where I sometimes appear

To remember 

Yesterday's memories 

Which I hold dear

That white candle burns

Brighter each year

On the 28 of December 

When I return to remember 

My beloved Lucinda 

Who I lost

One fatal day in winter

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Channelling Saint Nick

 

All I've ever wanted  

All my life  

Is to feel truly alive

Someone to love me

From early morning

To way past midnight

After a white winter

Christmas 

Sunrise

But like all things

Which shimmer

Evocatively

Like much converted

Gold

It's a dream

I still hold onto

Even now

As I grow

Slowly old

Where are you

Wherever you be

Will you ever find me

Before I cross over

God's golden countries

And swim in its purple

Seas

After my last Christmas Eve 

I once dreamed

An emancipated dream

Dreamed I'll be happy

To parade

For all to see

I was never young

But born

So very old

I've lived a lifetime

Out in the winter cold 

Where my memories

And poetic stories

Will be continuously retold

But it's a lonely

Life as I hear

The hooves of the

Track Master approaching

Who haunts all things

Which currently dances

To life's slow grooves

But I'm indomitable

And will face these last

Few centuries filled

With such grace

And when I see

The Almighty

I'll ask him face to face.

And say

Where was my

One and only

The one to hold

Me tightly

And kiss away

All those

Tears

Wherever I was

Sad and so lonely

On that cold sleigh 

Delivering presents on Christmas Day

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Dreams of the Silver City

 Blessed be. 

Velumbound. 

(A lone voice whispers) 

I can still remember when we waited all night long 

Last October 

In winter

As a lone blackbird sang her early evening song

Sat holding hands 

Together

Before our time together 

Splintered 

Watching Luna ride her white chariot across the night sky

Sally

Your palliative nurse had dressed you in white and gold

Brushed your hair

Applied light makeup 

As a surprise 

For when you 

Woke up

We gazed for hours

In total silence, 

Looking deep into each other's eyes

Before we said our final goodbyes

Of only

I love you 

As your Midazolam eyes closed 

The hospice was cool and quiet

And the stars shone even brighter 

That moment

The twinkling lights in your brown eyes

Went out forever 

And you lay cold and high

Due to continuous subcutaneous infusion 

And in all that following confusion 

When I cried

Holding your soft hands

Finally 

Realising you had died

Swimming in and out of the clouds

Like grey smoke 

Came a noise

Like a deep voice 

That made me choke

It said

Don't cry for the dead

For in the seconds they say their final goodbyes 

They wake again

In a new place

Where there are no more hospital beds

And people no longer die from poverty 

Cruelty or bloodshed 

But meet old loved ones

Like newlyweds

So take this from me

The communal processing officer of the now dead

Those that pass wait blessed by God's Head and with family and friends

In a Silver City that never ends

So dream easy

Stop crying

For those now dead or soon to be dying 

In dreams they can soon visit from the Great In-Between 

Then the voice stopped as a shooting star shot across the now black sky

I asked Sally if she heard that voice or noise 

She looked intensely at me for a moment 

In that now quiet room and said 

Yes

I thought it was your wife talking 

And that made me laugh

Laugh every day even though it might seem strange to strangers 

For in that second, after that loud voice 

I heard my Samantha say

Live well, my love

Enjoy every moment of your time

Travel 

Spread hope and compassion 

And when you're ready

Laid in a hospice bed

Like me

Wear white and gold

The gold being our wedding band

And in that very last waltz with Death

When you take your last ever breath of the living dust

I will take you home to the Silver City where there is only love and no pity

Filled with people you can trust 

So I write this note

As I leave for Italy 

Here in this cafe for someone like you to read

The dead live on forever

Waiting to be reunited 

In The Silver City

If you just believe

Beyond the realm of the living dust

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Have you had Cataclysmic Dreams

 

Blessed be. 

Velumbound. 

This transmission exploration centres on the tension between profound love and the restrictive boundaries of real-life circumstances.

It captures a longing for a "soulmate" or ideal partner (referred to as the "alpha and omega") contrasted against the bittersweet realisation that life's timing, obligations, or risks prevent them from being together.

Let us begin. 

Cataclysmic Dreams 

(A lone voice whispers)

Sometimes in the early morning

As the world is slowly

Waking and yawning

In deep delicious dreams

Dressed from head to toe 

In blue and green 

You come strolling in  

Wearing glorious white satin

Appearing 

Through a portal 

From The Great In-Between 

Walking in

Like a young, beautiful Cleopatra 

My alpha and omega 

Where we then

Hand in hand 

Lay in a field of yellow hay 

As wild horses around us

Neigh and play

Looking deeply into each other's eyes

As twin

Eagles above us

Circle and play

As we watch the world go by

Slowly 

Fading away 

Thinking 

Why are some circumstances so unfair 

That you can't have some fun

With your heart's true love

Before your life is run

 

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Did you know the Lord, whatever your faith, gives you three things to survive in life?

 Blessed be. 

Velumbound. 

The world is changing so fast and tomorrow, hopefully, will be better than today or yesterday.

If your self-belief lasts.

Did you know the Lord, whatever your faith, gives you three things to survive in life?

A bright electromagnetic light to lead others out of the dark

An invisible shield 

And a metaphorical sword

The light is your bestowed unyielding belief in doing something good

That lays within you

In every single sinew

The shield

Is your faith magnified to be the cornerstone of your belief in the goodness of your light

And the sword is the strength to use the light and shield to constantly try to defeat and dispel the darkness 

Whenever it appears, 

If it follows you 

No matter where

You're stood 

I’ve obviously just created this just to inspire you to keep moving forward, with positivity in your life. 

Regardless of your fears

Instead of wallowing in deep pools of fast flowing soul tears

I don’t know you and you don’t know me, but universally, shouldn’t we just try to inspire each other, and others?

Instead of using negative narratives?

Have a wonderful upcoming week and keep those three things close 

For you'll never know when they are needed the most 

Salute.

(C)

Copyright John Duffy 

Would you float by?

 

Blessed be. 

Velumbound. 

Here is a transmission that fuses classical Greco-Roman mythology, Judeo-Christian theology, and modern social commentary. 

The piece functions as an urgent allegory about the collapse of human empathy, utilising dual vocal delivery (male and female) to contrast a bleak description of human corruption with a divine plea for collective salvation.

The River

(A lone voice whispers) 

[Male voice] 

As Goddess Aphrodite

With her dark eyes

Emitting a hypnotic aroma

Of almonds

In her flowing white gown

Stood on the ominous

Invisible broken banks of שְׁאוֹל

Unspoken grounds of an

Unseen Sheol

Just perched on the edge of humanities

Peripheral vision

Far from the silvery fields of Elysian

As torn carcasses

In its red waters flowed and

Floated by

Ruined misshaped

Corpses

Of outright Racism

Subtle hidden whispered outtakes of Hatred

Enticing strands of coveted Jealousy

Green envy

Or homophobia

Embedded by

Apollyon

In the many silent

Watchers deep souls

Dire Despair and Hopelessness

Being one of its many followed

Old pagan Leaders

She cries to you

Instead

Reader

As she holds up

In shaking alabaster hands

Her divine golden

Jewel-encrusted goblet

In the swirling white smoke

And speaks to your

Higher self

[Female voice] 

Will you

Fill up my cup and bring

Love back into the world

To help the many

The deemed

Unfortunate

The homeless

The broken

Whom I can hear so viscerally

Who still cry to me

Wherever they be

Or would you too

Just follow the multitude

And see me

Standing here on the broken

Banks of Sheol

As you too

Perish and die

Without hope and

Float by

To forever dwell within

The Fifth Dimension

Where you will forever

Wander blind

Never again to ever see

Ruled over and into the deep gates of

Eternity

By the

Lord of the Flies

Mephistopheles

Copyright John Duffy