ecdysis
npl-ses[-,si:z] the process of shedding the old skin (in reptiles) or casting off the outer cuticle (in insects and other arthropods)
ecdysis
john o sullivan ’
Copyright © 2010 by John O’Sullivan. All rights reserved. No portion of this book my be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. Published by Qube, Singapore. 77B Tras Street, Singapore 079016 Tel: +65 6465 4329 Email: info@qubestudio.com www.qubestudio.com Printed in Indonesia. ISBN 978-981-08-7077-5 First publication: 1 October, 2010. Design by Qube, Singapore. Cover painting: By John O’Sullivan. Photograph of John O’Sullivan by Mike Mulcaire.
P R E FAC E
This collection of poems is dedicated to my immediate and greater family all of whom influence and shape me in my purpose of and for being. In a sense “Ecdysis� is part of my ongoing re-defining and growth; a subtle flow of release and future retrospective. To Tish, thank you for being the absorber and soul space that you are. To Paddy my currently missing in action father in law... waiting for the rendezvous and coordinates.
POEMS
jan 2008 Discovery Fiery Soul Mosquitoes Now Song song Blue When did the light die? Forsaken Space
12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
feb 2008 A Runway Moment Super sized national anthem No intent Dreamer Inside Job Nuntun Dawn Chorus Truth Rice Fields The River
20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 30
march 2008 Karma Cleansing Branching Out Long Way Home The Three Days Poetry Nasarin Guitar Case Money Carpet on the Wall Time Old My Loft Village Sunset Cycle Brother and Sisters The Sell In Charge
31 32 33 34 36 37 38 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 47
april 2008 Being Rich Equivocation Rising Bali Night Sky Since His Death Budapest Association
48 49 50 51 52 53 54
may 2008 Whickers World Avebury Hand Signals Sentience Waste of Time (wasted time) Diet
56 58 59 60 61 62
m-j 2008 NY Weekend
63
june 2008 Triathelete Seeing Life Between Lives Gede Beaches Sunday Blues Space Planning in Reverse Moscow London-Park Life 46664 (it’s in our hands) A Day in The Life
66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 78 79 80
july 2008 Rooms with Paintings Beautiful Girl? Non Flapping Wings Looking Back Made Wianta John’s House Uncovered Melasti (Purification) Nganteg Linggihi (purification)
81 82 83 84 86 88 91 92 94
august 2008 Coming Back Flow IR Tokyo-by Morning Trains in Blur
95 96 97 98 99
september 2008 Faerie The Nets Lunar Echoes Religion and Spirituality Flea Market Multi Personality Musings Demystifying Pantones
100 101 102 103 104 106 107
october 2008 New World Disorder Clouds Light Receding Virus First Non-Sense Daily Special The Chamber
108 110 112 113 114 115 116 117
november 2008 Train(ed) Day Fancy an up-size baby? Mastbosch Forest Markings Little Dreams Journey
118 119 120 121 122 123
january 2009 Soul Settling
125
march 2009 Darkness Cloaking
126
arpil 2009 In-digestion Confusion Muscovite Girl Time Passages 2 Traces may 2009
127 128 129 130 131
POEMS
Entering the Cave Twins Age of Innocense Inner Smile Night Ball Amsterdam on my Mind Passing Healing Elements 2012‌Departure Gate 14 Tribal Dancers The hand behind back dance Prowlers in my head Edging Over Climbing Up Future Coordinates Space clearing for the advanced
132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 143 145 149 150 151 152 153
may /june 2009 LA day (19 hours)
155
june 2009 Lunar Landing Yai The Blessing Ideally Joy FM Art
159 160 161 162 123 124
july 2009 Brain Dead You never asked me Word according to M Tri Hata Karana Warbled Music Cahir Brannach Bowed Water Head Afternoon Dumps Symphony
125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133
august 2009 Twin sons of different mothers Remembered Choices
134 135 136
september 2009 Shanghai Club Tama Time Parallel Runways
137 138 139
october 2009 Movement Shadow Play Spirit Markings Vowing
140 141 142 143 144
november 2009 Forming The Gift Motion The Levantine Trivial Less Suit Re-Hatched When I was Younger Gu-Ru Island Snogging Their Off Reethi Rah The Bypass
145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156
december 2009 Spirit Stick Quirky Reconciliation Harland + Wolff
157 158 159 160
ECDYSIS
age is a confusion of time
09
discovery I found myself By mistake One late Morning Lurking in The shadows Waiting for The sign A signal To tell me to Emerge My mother Told me Never To listen To strangers
Bali Jan 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
fiery soul Belief systems Divert your Essence From being To doing
Bali Jan 2008
13
mosquitoes Most mosquitoes Work the Late shift Yet You can only Catch dengue Fever in the Morning They are called Aedes Egypti Its not a local Mosquito but Arrived In Bali a long Time ago
Its ho k like intrusion only From the Female of The species Male mosquitoes Live on pollen Females have Many lessons Of survival For us males To learn from
Bali Jan 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
now I live to die My ultimate Triumph over ego
Bali Jan 2008
15
song sung blue My moods Are avoidance Shadows of who I actually want To be A safety net In reverse Protecting me Out of date Fashion styles Over priced Over rated Over here Spring clean The pouring Faucets Of intent
Bali Jan 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
when did the light die? Was it when your Eardrum burst? When you moved To Australia? When you decided That your misguided ego Replaced receding reasoning Now a dulled Worn canvas; Acid stained Spirit having flown
Bali Jan 2008
17
forsaken When a child Talks with their Imaginary friend They are chatting With their angel When an unshaven Middle aged Man jokes In public with his; He has demons What changes The filters of our Belief system from Angels to demon ?
Bali Jan 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
space Between alpha And theta Is my cliff Dwelling The cave Is accessible But difficult Levels of space Shared with Fellow creatures A chair Of driftwood. A comfy mat As a bed I would think Thoughts and Drill down Until there was Only a sm: e
Bali Jan 2008
19
a runway moment A pilot Ready for Take off Is prepared For all Eventualities Pro-actively Us non pilots Stare at The runway Salivating, Flapping of wings Yet stunned at Our inability To take flight
The control ower Only summons those Whose entire Flight plan has Been logged So?
Australia Feb 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
super sized national anthem Australia’s Horizontal hold On girth Is collapsing Vigilante groups Of fat gather To bask In each others Ever increasing Presence Healthy outdoors; Eating frenzy Indoors Undignified in Your new mantra Of super sized Independence Are you really Going to be able To go Waltzing Matilda?
Australia Feb 2008
21
no intent Experiencing life Without self intent Is treason of the mind
Australia Feb 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
dreamer Last night In my dreams H.R Clinton Was a PR Director Of a soon To open Deluxe hotel She had taken Unpaid leave To run For presidency We sat In a bus And she Swore me To secrecy
She would be Totally devastated if She did not Make it back to The White House Our eyes locked and I assured her That the secret Was safe With me
Australia Feb 2008
23
inside job I had a chest x ray This afternoon. I felt like an Internal convict. Suspicious But not actually Accused of anything The technician Knew it was an Inside job He just did not Have the guts To tell me
Bali Feb 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
nuntun Protection of place The role of spirits. Consecration of land Ground in defense Nuntun is the journey Of temporary asylum Of spirit from a temple To a parallel source With seamless Spirit protection Territory Rebuild the temple With spirit Still all powerful Renewed consecration Energy mir ored On sacred day
Bali Feb 2008
25
dawn chorus From different Countries the Water sourced. Gathering dreams Sucked from The elements Bare Converging in a Journey of Epic inevitability
Found energy Frothing on Shores of Lust and theta Devotion Entering old age More sure Expansive
Water spliced In its destined Flow
The Delta Beckons But as one We flow To waters Waiting to be Charted by our Timeless fetch
Bali Feb 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
truth When a transmitter And receiver become one You have Known silence A suspended place Where light Only visits Timeless in its Ceaseless quest For origin And source
We ply Our wands Hopeful In levitation Of self And others As one Enter the space Of where matter Does not
Bali Feb 2008
27
rice fields Terraced upwards Like a divine stairs Saluting sky You sustain Life Solitude role: Sucked to Earth Before harvest They create a Circus of guises To honour you You are Soul staple Of earth and heaven
Bali Feb 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
09
distance is an unresolved metric
Found energy Frothing on Shores of Lust and theta Devotion Entering old age More sure
the river
Expansive
From different Countries the Water sourced.
The Delta Beckons
Gathering dreams Sucked from The elements Bare
But as one We flow To waters Waiting to be Charted by our Timeless fetch
Converging in a Journey of Epic inevitability Water spliced In its destined Flow
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Bali Feb 2008
ECDYSIS
karma cleansing This auspicious calendar day Feeds the purification Of the mind and Re-pointing of soul releasing: An understanding That earth order does not Order soul Rituals of place Define boundaries And mediate The terms of Our rebirth Shanti
Bali Feb 2008
31
branching out I am in love With trees I video them For hours And watch at Rapid time Elapsed speed. Yet they still Dont grow Any slower. They consider me And my passing Insignificance I see them in Generational Photographs: They grow ....Silently We die ...Vacuously
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Mafia roots Informing And gathering Facts from Underneath The water table Canopy arms Doing complex Tai Chi poses All the time Protecting and Nurturing us
Bali March 2008
ECDYSIS
My heart sank. Reality was hatched But not then Months later I found his friends In Australia
long way home
He was a vegetarian Armed robber
Once my heart Felt a blush From the boy On a motorbike In Goa
Morale of the story If your a Martian; Never trust someone Who eats all his greens Or yours actually
A striking soul Of sensuous Intensity
P.S I never found him
Love was hatched: Reality abandoned
Bali March 2008
One night He never Came home To our bed
33
the three days 1. ogoh ogoh-the monsters
2. nyepi-the silent day
The night before The new year Is the monster parade.
All the evil vibrations Are sucked from The elements.
Villagers create Effigies of evil To be tricked Into a fast Absolution of power.
Airport closed. Houses dark.
At the crossroads They are carried And clockwise Shaken by a “wired” bunch Of locals
Intent for future.
The energy Is whipped Up into a Cauldron frenzy.
Fasting and detoxifying Of spirits.
And then Before dawn; The lights Go out.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Reflections on Past year.
Good and evil Distilled in A perfume of Strength.
Suspended energy Clings at night To earth Like a guarding Cloak.
ECDYSIS
3. ngembak geri-new beginning The skyline Is clear; Majestic in Its immensity The volcano With faux cloud On crater Effigies being burned On beach At regular intervals Of space To allow Cleansing.
Shouting and celebrating And believing that The future Is now here For us all To elevate towards.
Bali March 2008
35
poetry Poems are timeless In their ability To shape. Like art pieces Viewed and Walked around; Alternative rotations. Everything is different With the angle Of desiring.
To gain a glimpse; A chard of glass Embeds itself In the heart. Causing a feeling; A throwback To a future And a past. Most of all, Poetry liberates The lightness Of being.
Bali March 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
nasarin-laying of temple stone The energy In the air Was a post Nyepi Hopefulness
Protection Of land Is spatial Yet defined.
A New Year Promising in Its design
The Director Of security Temple Honored last With foundations More completed
The honor Of laying The first stone Profound For me The exact Placement. Directionally Perfect Offerings Placed Coconut cracked With baptism Of earth And spirits
After the Last stone A peacefulness Was apparent. Each of us looking At each other. Bound in the simple And abundant Presence of Soul communion
Bali March 2008
37
guitar case Hard backed For soft souls A passport With the stamps On the outside. Strings attached
Bali March 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
money A$$et rich Life poor Accumulation Without purpose Is poverty Of being
Bali March 2008
39
If you have issues; you judge
ECDYSIS
carpet on the wall Year in and year out Another layer of Wallpaper is added No bubbles On the wall Just the room Slowly getting smaller Eventually you want To paint afresh but You cant get the Wallpaper off You have to use an Industrial steamer. Its time intensive With no initial impact.
Slowly it unpeels Like a snake. The wall uncovered Has its own fragmented feel: Not the original Its almost like a Prison cell: Lost in purpose. Empty. Silent No guards Only time ...Yours, to be either wasted or sourced
Bali March 2008
41
time old I dont feel old I only feel time Its different. One measures Lost abundance The other Things achieved Or lived They both Are hatched Together At birth. Some keep As fraternal twins Forever Personally, I thinks they Should be separated At conception
Bali March 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
my loft Come with me On your journey A huge white Window laden Loft space Wooden floor Punctured only By pointed poles Protruding upward Spear like
Each of our aspirations Like a spinning plate Vibrating on tip We choose one Each at a time To learn from And update When we leave, The space Continues To grow; To shape all Our future Dreams
Bali March 2008
43
village sunset cycle Cultures merge When roads and Pathways dissolve Cycling through Generations Of lives Internet connections Competing with art For connectivity To source Dogs at different Stages of devolution Being barked at By Antoin: Stunned by the Reversal of roles Mossed templed walls; Natures stubble Fluorescently Vibrating with Pechalan like Authority
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Twin angled mountains Pummeled by clouds. Massaged under Belly not visible Layered terraces With pubescent Rice sprouting; Mirrored pushed Artist house visited Directions and symbolism Defining a boundary less Generational cycle Bali blesses. We simply Pedal less
Bali March 2008
ECDYSIS
brother and sisters I have one son And three daughters. Each a star Of epic size A molding force spectacularly singular Little people Have the answers Just ask the Right questions
Bali March 2008
45
the sell I once knew A man who lived In an open Self imposed Prison cell. Surrounded by All the trappings: Trophies of “Wanting to be” Happy moments When people Visited him He listed off With enthusiasm And sincerity All that he was And was not
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
But when Stillness falls And the silent camera Picks up a scent Of self doubt Then its time To change That man Was me
Bali March 2008
ECDYSIS
in charge Are we inherently Capable of being The characters In lord of the flies? Or Jack Lord from Hawaii five o? Are we good Souls first And then Contaminated? Or just waiting For the right moment For our dark side To strike?
Bali March 2008
47
being rich No correlation To higher levels Of happiness Lots of zerOs Zeros have No value No guarantee of Soul depth Occasionally knowing The real people From the cling-ons And dream siphons Rising above The stereotype; Living incorrigibly Is true wealth
Bali April 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
equivocation Shards of facts Elasticity of thought And dimension Of possibility Boundaries sucked in Acceptance threshold So much more smilier Predictability of outcome Like having a bet For both a win And a place in the Same horse race. With only two runners Just More certain
Bali April 2008
49
rising The sunrise This morning Was so milky. I was unsure Of whether The water Or milk would Rise to The surface
Bali April 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
bali night sky Almost fluorescent In its radiance Clouds: like Sentinels Guarding the Middle kingdom Racing and Dueling until All energy Visually Spent The moon Significant In its influence And confluence Of source
Earth: a pacifier Of neglect Water believing The sound of Its own churn Combined: A swarm of Intentions
Bali April 2008
51
since his death Since john died I have never listened To his voice His message yes
Informed
Powerful when alive: So simple Obvious
Describing Precisely the Way in which His passage Ultimately flew
I listened To him tonight Waxing lyrical On death
When he died In Paris it all Must have gone Swimmingly
Bali April 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
budapest A city where graffiti Has gone main stream On the main streets But only for short people Happiness of purpose not Yet generationally sown ...Understandably. Lots of people talking And smiling To themselves but they Allegedly are the mad ones Architectural significance In its bridging of ĂŠpoques. The mantle of Inordinate oppression Lifted but hope unsure Of future prosperity. Corruption the non religious Spokesperson for The powerful.
Veneer is pretty Truth still hurts. The Irish came And rebuilt New apartments But not the spirit Of the people. Look to The bridge And decide The true Direction Of future flow
Budapest April 2008
53
association To write on the inside Of a puke bag is like Insider trading. You know something Its all in the timing. Shining background Does not guarantee Future wretches Or riches.
Sin-Bali Flight April 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
we are each others soul commission
whickers world Growing up it Was proof that The religion of Travel existed And I had not Invented it. We only had Three TV channels. Ulster Television was always snowing It skewed the perception Of visiting far away lands As being slightly cold
I spent four hours With him today. His first interview Was 55 years ago In the near east Town of Ramsgate In England. Remnants of War obvious In the tone Of the buildings Was a landlady Discussing business In the wintertime For bed and breakfasts She held a dog Who had a new Canine jacket bought For the occasion
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
He was a pioneer In savoring opportunities. Always an opinion Always delved Almost naively An alternative Measurable currency To today’s air miles When I look Into his eyes And when We connect I see what only Other travelers see If you don’t have Fiery eyes You wont see it In others
Bali May 2008
57
avebury I first saw the stones When staying in The old school house With Iain Gardiner Cosmic formation In grazing fields. A path of signs Recognisable to Even humans From the sky; Enigmatic in Their shape On full moon night There is a quietness Patiently waiting For the reformation
Bali May 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
hand signals In prison There are Hand languages Spoken between Prisoners in opposing Ends of the quadrangle They live and love By finger movements. The more they concentrate: Greater the hearing And feeling.
Illegal language Punishable by Castigation Isolation Court sentence And even Lose of Prison job. All in the quest For digit fantasy
Bali May 2008
59
sentience I seek silence To be a Sentient soul Luxuriate In the peace Of being When all is Aligned in a Curvaceous arc Nothing is forever; Only the now In all its Splendid Regalia
Bali May 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
waste of time (wasted time) Wars never truly Have an end date They carry on Reshaping lives To the perverse Straight line Post colonial boundaries Re-drawn. Criminal Latitude re-enforcing Misplaced attitude. Cutting through families And cultures. Forced to take sides In a non requested Rape of life. The politicians Retire repentant. Go on book tours Repenting.
Autobiography poisoned By misshapen quotes To politely justify Atrocities Send them to court. Try them. Don’t let their old age Act as an excuse For those who Were robbed Of any age. When the death knoll Comes a visiting, They shall seek Refuge in the house Of closed doors
Bali May 2008
61
diet Do you eat According to the moon She asked With eyes Wide open
Bali May 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
ny weekend 1. arrival Its Friday rush hour In may Raining In a taxi From JFK To the core Of orchards pride. The red and white traffic flow: an anthem Of sorts. Polarity of purpose. The clouds grey. An umbrella of a sky Wishing you could Bullet it.
Signs flirt me donateyourcar. Com Transporting me Always in the Opposite direction Pragmatic buildings Escaping the mist. Almost happy To see me. Tunnels suck You in to their Tiled underworld. Smell acrid to The avoidance
63
2. harlem arts center (ode to jimmy slide) Walked in And a baroque Music recital For under 12s Underway. Felt ashamed For narrowness Of my expectation When the doors opened. Parents everywhere Essentially want the same For their kids Next door A Dominican Rap poet Performing; Launching his First CD. Amazing enthusiasm And church like Passion. Kids and adults Doing “tap” With metal toes And heels JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Almost Irish In foot movements And top body Being still rigid Public bus taken A different world Full of melting pot Souls Dominican restaurant In the wet rain. Corner groups of boys Gathered but not present
ECDYSIS
3. the bridge and the photos
4. spaces
Brooklyn Bridge Is one of earths More interesting Spans.
New York Is a one off. An energy for The public to identify With an earned defiance
In its lowest blink: Eyeing Ellis island Statue of liberty Visible. Guiding and misguiding The hope seekers NY photo exhibition In DUMBO area; Under the bridge. A united image Of difference Neighborhood Italian perfect to the taste. Well kept buildings Guarding the values
Museums teething With people. When it rains: More interested. I felt New York For five days. It embraced me Like an old friend Who had lost Some of its grumpiness I recognise her As the beacon. Light and life Surviving together
Bali May-June 2008
65
triathlete I stand strong, silent in the sacred space of intention. My mind, soul and body is ordained to compete, complete and elevate. Boundaries define others and mercifully exclude me. I source energy to nourish my chosen daze of being. There is nobody only me.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
There is everybody including me. I am in communion with aspired purity. I swim, I cycle, I run. I become my vision of realised potential. Of this‌I am.
Singapore-Bali June 2008
ECDYSIS
seeing I love flying West at sunset Its magical In its duration And variety In furnaces Of deep light It never give ups Until you come down From the clouds And wonder about What you never saw
Bali May 2008
67
life betwen lives A transition Of space And time Accessed by the Newly gones For a time Its important To be still With the departed Assuring them Of their passage And journey Of seeking Another soul
And then The signal Goes weak. Attraction and Assimilation Has begun A new pact On old Foundations
Bali June 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
gede He died today Of a blood clot
I felt the Disabled one
I hugged him On Tuesday And told him How proud I was of him
He was not sorry For himself.
His leg did Not work Properly When I Interviewed Him he looked Intently Almost Through me
He was Just happy For others As one dream Breaks on the Beach of life Another is sucked By the rip tide Of taking
Bali May 2008
69
beaches They seduce Me globally Whispering secrets Thru the elements That I almost Understand Each sunset Framed freshly In its unique Soul context At sunrise Secretive And private
When the tide Touches beach A cleansing And gardening like Ritual begins Great beaches Are like great Leaders; Merciful Yet resolute In outward appearance
Bali June 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
sunday blues In my twenties In the UK Sundays were Tinged with Melancholy A sense Of inevitability Of Mondays Pending arrival A day of guilt For not having Done enough or Doing too much The day of chores
I bought into That once Listening to Annie Nightingale On BBC Radio 1 While doing the Ironing and feeling Satisfied in a hollow Sort of way Sunday in Asia Is a happier day Not the same weight Or rules I like watching Sunday sunsets Feeling liberated Not domesticated
Bali May 2008
71
space planning in reverse Partitioning of the mind is a logical result of spatial detachment a shrewd insurance policy that avoids ever doing a stock take of every-you ...at the same time all thoughts and memories dwell conveniently in suspended retrograde. They hide like Anne Franks in smaller modeled room spaces. (never scratching the surfaces)
so much time is spent creating the illusion of purpose; it actually becomes the altered reality. Time becomes irrelevant compared to perceived and inwardly justified outcomes. freeze frame: de-trigger. Hold your hands up and give yourself in to yourself. The sheriff and fugitive finally meet; almost tripping over each others visible umbilical chord.
Dubai-Moscow June 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
spirituality is a fluid ethical flow
moscow 1. the square When I stand in red square The building colour Reminds me of Jaipur Get your Photo taken With Lenin Or Stalin Lookalikes. Stalin looks To old to Be believable ...In the flesh
Not a hint Of blood In nasal sight Invocation for Future hope With Louis Vuitton Winning the Corner slot Orthodox Church Feels like manger With freshly strewn Straw on stone floor. Old women bowed With priest Touching their Hunched heads With sacred Scripture.
ECDYSIS
Bells sound 11; gates to St. Basel The Blessed opens. Dress sense Abandon is all over The square. All bets are off. Numbered guides With silent Sheep following Almost oblivious. Happy to be there But where?
75
2. the disconnect Four in the morning The airport is full. Harpooned Fish market Like announcements Being vomited Louder than the PA system. Everyone running From something Even if they Can’t move. Desperate not To be generationally Excluded again
Far from The runways Of any kind Are the forgotten. Forced into communism And excluded from capitalism. Pensions, like The weather Frozen in time. They wait for Nothing to happen ...Cheaply until death Do them part.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
3. novodevichy cemetery A forest of trees Blossoming headstones A theatre of a place From politicians To circus owners. A small inner circle After all 3D tombs staring at you From all angles With angels. Seats and tree trunks Allows you to sit With the dead everywhere. Sepia image on Dark stone Fades back To normal Exposure ...Over time
Chekhov’s tomb Like an sloped roof And three chimney stacks. With a lone Celtic cross Staring in front of it. Almost Yeatsian In irony. Its a full place. The ultimate Address in Moscow. If you don’t pay your dues Your body is moved. After life Imitating Real life.
Moscow June 2008
77
london-park life Sitting on a Park bench In Hyde Park In late June The squirrels Bored with American tourists With loud voices But no nuts School not Quiet out All but for The term bell
Youngsters by Memorials Horizontally oblivious Thankfully of those Who fell in the field From something Other than Binge drinking. Oh England You are Your own Worst destiny
London June 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
V
V
T T
ECDYSIS
46664 (it’s in our hands) His number Was engaged For 27 years Abuse Through apartheid Premeditated; Primitive extinction Forgiver Accepter Pragmatist Conscience and Courage Ambassador Inspirer Non aggressor A model For roles Of dignity And believable Leadership His true legacy Is what we do now With his foundation For hope In the shadow Of what he did then .....By example.
Tragically; abuse Of power In his continent Leave the masses Incontinent to Anything but hope I swear It’s in all Our hands: Only our Hands The dream begins With our belief It can Never end
UK May 2008
79
a day in the life 1. june 28th 2008
2. june 27th 2008
I drove 444 miles Today in the UK To take my daughters To see Barney The purple dinosaur. He is a commercial Franchise. He make believes things In his imagination and They come to real life
I watched the election Farce or sham in Zimbabwe today. Another dinosaur Was on stage. He is a megalomaniac and cold blooded murderer Of his people He make believes things In his imagination and They come to real life I am confused disgusted. For one of the Few times in my life I want the true dictator To die
UK June 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
rooms with paintings I dwell In paintings In specific Random spots I sit in rooms And we stare Almost Victorian Like at each other I saw the Cy Twombly Four Seasons Retro at The Tate Modern Was like Being introduced To my family tree Of structured Abandoned imagination I felt Like I Was walking Through layers Of his soul That was Effortless
I gained insights Tangible Those with the Headsets were Going off like Micro waved Popcorn Rooms full Of secrets. A game Of sorts. I paint Therefore You are Seduced Cerebrally And soulfully In equal Ecstatic Drip feeds of exposure
Bali July 2008
81
beautiful girl? How long Will I remain Beautiful Thought the Currently Beautiful girl. It was summer In England as Nature Blossomed Blemished hope.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Childhood Memories Flooded back Of all that Was promised By people Who break Promises; For a reason. That end in Self treason. So many choices Of dreams then. Now Only Derelict scraps Of random chance
Bali July 2008
ECDYSIS
non flapping wings Sitting on plane; Hong Kong Tarmac The flap On one of the wings Is not functioning The cockpit Made their checks A sense Of indignation Befalls the Full flight Bit like life Sometimes.
Immediate gratification Demanded before The higher tax Of reality Levied. We are now Going to Change planes So often In life We never Get that choice Temporary delay Versus Permanent derailment
Hong Kong July 2008
83
looking back Living in Cairo Was like Living with An older mistress
The interaction Of all the senses Like listening to a Frenzied Orchestra play
Someone Who had been And done It all
Each orchestra section A sense
Her ancient Sentinels Standing guard Over upper Egypt’s Pharonic dynasty A blended “fool” Of everything Sensory
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
The conductor In the middle Of this cauldron Of bubbling overload When I see the Perfect Bali Beach sunset My mind is Taken in a Donkey and cart To Dashur; The Bent Pyramid In Giza
ECDYSIS
Infinite space Where imploded Pyramids stand Solemn and disfigured
I see a plastic bag Blowing out Of earshot. Making a silent Shaking commotion
A wind blows through If you listen Oh so quietly The secrets Of the desert Can nearly Be revealed
Running the length Of the Giza plain. Seeing civilizations Frozen in flux
Bali July 2008
85
made wianta Painted with Made Wianta In Bali Yesterday Google him! He welcomed Me with a 3 Meter canvas Already primed: Just like him Duality Of sanity Huge High roofed Concrete Open walled Space
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Delicious In its provocation He had assistants To move ladders And clean brushes All three had the Same energy Of artistic Elevation Nodding Encouragement .....Silently I sensed that They too were The “without brush” painters
ECDYSIS
I painted for Three hours With Pak Wianta Documenting every Second of My liberation
Each individually Meticulously Catalogued The Hermitage Had moved To Bali
It was joyous. It was virtual The painting “Everlasting Life� Was ripped Of me
Drenched In love.
I then saw all His work.
He stood In the doorway Waving me Goodbye
A library Of more than 30000 sketches And paintings
Yesterday Afternoon Grew me.
Bali July 2008
87
john’ house It was July 2007 Remote Conamara My mother was From this Gallant lived in Earth I drove for about 45 minutes Taking a right turn At Maams Cross The land More released The longer I drove
A long left Then a short Right and I was there John’ house Was lived in, Hermit like Books stacked Vertically on The floor Looked like some Form of Seismic or Richter experiment In the distance The glass lake Beamed
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
We ate fish and salad. Drank Poteen. Nectar Throat and soul quenching
The upstairs A cell With liberal Visiting rights I left
The art was Contemporary, Mystical We listened To some Intense classical music. Transported
meandered back To Ballynahinch Castle I smiled At the joy, The delirium I never saw John again
Bali July 2008
89
getting old; rotting with attitude
ECDYSIS
uncovered My mother Always covered My books with a Shiny brown Wax type paper The secret Was to make sure It was still intact By end of year. Corners breaking Through was Acceptable We graduated To sheets of adhesive plastic By aged 11
In boarding school We had non covered books Raw They were Less owned in A peculiar Sort of way I grew older Deep deep down I still miss My covered books
Bali July 2008
91
melasti (purif ication) Blended holy water From 29 Temples An auspicious date In the Balinese calendar A procession: Temple to Jimbaran beach A giddy Pilgrimage Walking to The beach For our blessing I was reminded Of the Natural process
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
The Bell of The Holy Mangkus Syncronised In summing The spirits Of opposite camps Fishermen heading To sea. Their sails Like odd Coloured fans Cutting the bay Kites watching guard. Occasionally dropping To earth. Almost visiting
ECDYSIS
Walking back Along the beach cocky With our Soul catch The Temple Re-visited For one More prayer. Another Spirit layer Appeasing The Gods
I felt Privileged In an equal Sort of way Allowed to be Part of a Journey Of purification
Bali July 2008
93
nganteg linggihi (consecration) The last installment In the series The final act In the breathing Soul life back Into the Sacred space The obligatory Cock fight The inevitable Offering A hive of Village activity The first trance In the new calendar Erupted during The ceremony
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
So many offerings That made the Gods Drunk with the volume Families visiting Tricking the Dormant spirits Back into action A new Temple Tide Turns To Lunar light
Bali July 2008
ECDYSIS
coming back Death is prevalent In Bali. Its a welcomed And feared Intrusion. I think Ireland and Bali Resonate In the size Of funeral Processions Paying the Final respects To the soul Departed
Where Bali is More of me; Is the parallel Realization of The immediacy Of rebirth or the Transient Life Between Lives Phase. Souls are watching And being plotted To show themselves In the newly born A lottery in which Everyone knows All the numbers
Bali August 2008
95
flow In a crisis Flow must prevail Allowing time And purpose To mould Inseparably To an underwater Type movement Weightless in The prism Of time And space Bundled across The finish line Of belief smothered With fortitude
Bali August 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
ir Life is an addition Of experiences Soul a multiplication Of events The Rev T.R. Malthus During the industrial Revolution propagated That food production Would grow in an Arithmetic progression And population in a Geometric Life is arithmetic Soul is sacred geometry
Bali August 2008
97
tokyo-by morning Watching rush hour On the streets From almost tall buildings, Like a deep in thought Teenage school prefect With an invisible blazer (No logo showing). Position without power The mild The blue
Tokyo August 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
trains in blur Toothbrushes Erect in mug On window sill Like wild dried flowers In almost touchable Train track apartments Polite quiet Solemnity of People waiting To sit on train. Eye contact Not traded. Silence the preferred Medium of exchange Open prison Sized apartments With benches on roof. Buildings with blinds Hanging over the edge; Sticking their tongues Out at the world At an angle feeds mischievousness
Each balcony a Functioning laundry Racks of washed Chauffeur gloves Hanging neatly On racks. A sort of open handed mime artists Convention. Even the graveyards Are space practical: Vertical edifices As opposed to Ground sprawls Like worms we weave.
Osaka-Kyoto Train August 2008
99
faerie Your energy beams like a gold thread. Spun freely and soulfully without a mournful wisp in light.
Bali September 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
the nets Man is alive Screeching For the nets That keep The good And less good Apart. The elements Of light and dark swerve off Each other In a wave of Exaggerated Underwater Tidal completeness The net is a wall With holes
If I search For the gaps I will find One hole I will swim and swim Oblivious of My powers, Time, light, Past or Being. I will stop in wonder And blossom into me. There are No crowds Only shadows Of what I Left behind Always singular
Bali September 2008
101
lunar echoes Can you remember The killing moon As it stood On the clouds And stared us Both back to quasi life? You held my hand But it was not Mine anymore We smiled But they were Not our eyes Anymore When does The earth pushing And lunar pulling Ever really finish Its re-shaping Does attraction Become replaced By soul traction?
Bali September 2008 JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
religion and spirituality Today’s main event Are a separation Of dogma
Religion is a Spirituality
Religion ploughs Into certainty
Spirituality a Boundary less Religion
Spirituality seeks The unknown
Both can path To miracles
Religion defines Parameters Spirituality seeks the Infinity of “what if’s”
Bali September 2008
102
flea market My favorite Is San Telmo In Buenos Aires One long street Of paved memorabilia A square of Music and mirth. Silver spoons Old records Furs Plates Photographs Cut crystal sherry glasses Then it fans out Like a broken spoke We found the man Near the university Selling photos Of the still Disappeared.
Their mothers Carrying their Torch Silent. Those taken And never seen again In someone else’s Fanatic revolution One image of a Female secret riot police. He knew her name. She was the cruel one. …Odd that. Walking away with The bought image. I got that feeling I get in nations Suppressed. A giddiness In the knowledge That so many Forever dance alone
Bali September 2008 JOHN O’SULLIVAN
assumptions are the prelude to judgment
multi personality musings I sat in the garden Of the Paragon hotel In Sydney yesterday T’was a glorious Sunday afternoon Where weather And humans made All things bountiful A bearded man with whom I could easily have been A teenage friend with Was sitting chatting In an animated manner.
I talk to myself All the time. Sometimes I even Get a quorum. For sanity reasons I never take minutes Yet the bearded one has been deemed By societal norms to be Clinically insane. He was so tired
At his table was himself Three drinks and Three chairs
It then slowly dawned on me That with just one more drink And one more chair We could be each other
The conversation Was flowing Between himselves
I call my condition Duality of purpose. What do you call yours?
Sydney September 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
107
demystifying pantones Sunset is an anointment Of progressive colour. The wheel being pushed To the extreme of disclosure.
Bondi Beach-Sydney September 2008
new world order Reaching out On street corners Seeing newly graduated Non eye contacted men With their neatly written Square cardboard signs Explaining their fall (temporary) From societal Financial grace. When I look at them I realize the safety net of today’s “first world” Has forever disappeared. Replaced by the greed and Impact of immediacy of obese like “now” gratification. One missed repayment And your extinct.
Snakes and ladders To the extreme. Mental institutions Choked of funding Dump their innate inmate Patients onto the streets. Politicians talk With measured empathy And sincerity In a style robbed from An Anthony Robbins Government sponsored seminar. Sure life investments Sabotaged by the greed Of the city Trough lickers.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
Why should they Give a shit When whatever They do They still get Their golden handshakes? The poor Getting poorer. The rich merely More indifferent. The revolution of roles Cannot be too far away. Are you ready To stand up Or just poised With marker in hand To make a Fresh, neat Cardboard sign?
Sydney-Bali Flight September 2008
109
oOo
clouds A constant Scrolling of A story An alternative Mirror reflection Of that which It passes over. Never razor sharp Forever exaggerating And moving Its morphing Pseudopodia. Engulfing the sky. Pac man In extra slow motion Do clouds move faster In the dark when Nobody is watching them?
Bali October 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
oOo
oOo
ECDYSIS
light receding Sunset today was Rubicund in texture Lulling lowering ocean tide Measuring the Fluorescent seaweed Clung stones Like a tailor sewing A job lot of suits The incense spray of the ocean Anointing the double setting Saturn sun.
I was not sure Where I physically was. Felt transported to A lunar planet Where everything Was time and place inverted A setting sun Accelerates in its Final plummet. When its gone The real light show begins Nature’s earth synchronicity is not of human measurement
Bali October 2008
111
virus Our families Pass on the emotional virus That we become We feed it allow it to have A permanent Place setting Around our table Never invited Always fed
Bali October 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
first I appeared in my first Poetry festival This week Coming out. First time in 36 years That I stood up and Recited my words First recital was regarding My new rabbit. Floppy eared bunny With a wet nose. So little has changed So much is brokered
Bali October 2008
113
non-sense I was driving yesterday To Ubud in the middle Of a Holy day All Elements Were vibrating. Incense from Roadside Temples Robbed the eye Of depth Women with giraffe Necks of fruit Walking daintily The dead Could dance And they were
I saw a woman On the side Of the road. Worried and anxious Talking to a gathered crowd With nobody other than herselves Having turned up Emphatic in her delivery. I wondered about Bali And its acute tolerance And respect of age She went home that night Into a family space Where her room Was accepted With always having Multiple occupancies.
Bali October 2008 JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
Our family was Socially disconnected In a dis-interested Marginalised superior fashion
gormanston blues Mid term thoughts Always made me blue In a non fulfillment Sort of way Always hoping for Something to happen. The canvas only Had speckles of Random paint. Not even properly primed Halloween was the Most expectant. Excited to be going home But nothing happening.
I see my children today Confident in their Individual togetherness My past is the theme song At the beginning Of the movie The closing script already Galactically written With lines not Yet spoken I rest in peace In the knowledge That flow dictates And tributaries Merely trace The pace of being
Bali October 2008
115
daily special A man of about 20 Walks into a Starbucks. A lone scar running vertically The length of his face. His previous attacker An obvious artist in the making. He looked confident In a distant manner. He had one Visible tattoo On his arm Proclaiming “choke dog” His girlfriend Was about 18 In a pleasing sort of way. Dressed in black Anticipative of Future morning mourning Stereo-typical choices Give you at least two options Of someone else’s altered reality
Bali October 2008 JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
the chamber The closing days of October 2008 Brings an end to a month Of economic devastation. Lives shattered globally; Many irreparably. . Hark, there is light at the End of the barrel. Americans have spent 12% More on domestic firearms In the third quarter Compared to last year. The right to bear arms Soon to be outweighed by The ability to afford bullets.
Changi Airport October 2008
117
train(ed) day Its Sunday, November And more importantly Its Birmingham, UK. There is a filtered Hangover hugging (unconscious) On and over the city. It feels acridly sweet; Puberty was on puke Overload last night. Everything seems flaccid. Trains chew the metal straws With greater intensity. Masticating metal slower At the expense of my time. The conspiracy against me is truly palpable Leaves attack the moving train With a silent vengeance Obviously impeding its speed.
I am going to miss my flight. I never do that. A sense of the unknown Makes me smile. The control (predictor of outcomes) freak within is on a Well deserved day off. When I run for President I can tell the rally’s about today. When I was of the people As the limousine waits outside: Engine running with perfectly Controlled ambient temperature inside. One life…So many world’s.
Train Birmingham-London November 2008
P.S I made the flight
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
fancy an up-size baby? The train is standing At Rotterdam Centraal The rain on the window Makes art of water In short lines of attack At random angles. The lights form a tunnel. Sentries stand to attention Slowly as we accelerate. I am on my way to Breda. I am travelling first class But nobody has told the train
So many with their brown bag offerings of Cooling Burger King’s. Their passing aroma Giving the processed Incense wafting plot away Obesity has caught on All creeds accepted. . No right wing shift here. More like a central buttock Party literally united as one. I change to a double decker train .....How ironic
Its like an early Yuletide play
Amsterdam-Breda Train November 2008
119
mastbosch forest A linear planted Forest for Royalty. A folly originally for Animal entrapment The long march of trees Hold the morning sky Ransom for eventual light. The leaves, wax like In their somber demise And spiral sojourn to earth. Curled up. Pointing skywards To the next generation Of possibilities.
In the dark I walked And when the light came I retraced my steps. There is more magic felt In the pre dawn as opposed To post dawn’s translation of nature. Voices of the land: Echoes shock absorbed. Under carpet of natures hearth Reassuring in its walked mirroring. I stop at the crossroads And sense I am equ-distant From all the realities of being. Temporary refuge Makes all the difference.
Bali November 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
markings Am I your bookmark Reassuring in my presence? You have new books now So much can be googled Without turning a page I was thumbed once. I formed a bridge From what was to What could have been. New editions will come. Do I need to change Just my typeface Or basic content?
Bali November 2008
121
little dreams Children thankfully Refuse to accept the Sleeping symmetry of a Rectangular bed. Their attacks on Horizontal renewal Have the power Of a world leaders address. Arms wide open Face down ...Giving it a lash. Purity of transfer Non contaminated By dreams un-had. Dream and earth world Hallowed partners In blurred bridal paths Thru forests light gilded.
r e d
L
T Bali November 2008
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
T
a m
s
ECDYSIS
journey Come with me On a journey Under my skin. Where the layer Of touch and contact Is felt and not agitated. Where feeling flows With the plan of simply being. To accept and not try To influence singular thoughts. Instead, a woven Cacophony of choices Blended in the knowledge Of our higher source.
Bali November 2008
123
eccentric is merely specialised in
O thought
ECDYSIS
125
As you gather in my presence; celebrate all that we will be. Speak not in hushed voices but in remembered soul touchings.
soul settling I look towards the light; slowly turning my back on the warmth of being; of love and of you; each of you who made me and my journey thus far as one. I continue my elevation; seeking new journeys; light ways; trekking ways; Irish bike ways; Israeli reality ways; always through the eyes of your joy: never my pain. I seek solace in knowing that love is something timeless; immeasurable in its infinite power and benevolence.
Fear not where I am going for it is my ordained journey and one day we will be reunited; Like at the end of a long day of cycling when what we experienced was on the same road with just different pedal power. I am welcomed: I am accepted I am forever your light.
Bali January 2009
darkness cloaking Sunset at Nyepi Is like a sword Being brandished To protect. Equality of spirit; Deception of evil Light coaxed Of the sky Darkness Passing over oblivious of hearted terrain Below and across Energy hits water; The undetected Thrive and bloom Another year
Bali March 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
in-digestion Went out for dinner tonight with my ego. It ordered all the expensive daily specials. It did not know what wasabi was and thought it overly spicy. When it came to desserts it asked for the cheese board. The waiter brought some cheese cake and my ego asked for a discount when the bill came. Knowledge is power My ego thinks Ignorance was bliss.
Bali April 2009
127
confusion I was boogy boarding This afternoon On Jimbaran Beach In the strongly fraudulent Balinese sun. The skies opened And it started To pour rain. The sun continued To shine.
People were getting Out of the water. We are not naturally built For parallel confusion. We like things neat With sous vide “flow”. Reality teaches us That constant change Is ravenous. Merciless in its truth
Rain bounced on water Like an arrow Piercing velvet.
Find your flow And make flux your ally.
The weather shift change Hit a glitch.
Bali April 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
muscovite girl She came into town Guns solicitously smoldering. spirit in flux A bright sensuous constantly reborn Shining star Biding her time
She wants deep Salient touch To a place where She fantisises of
So close
Will she visit The most sacred Of shrines?
her essence Her source Of potential She goes to the Holy land To find redemption Of the past In anticipation Of future paths furrowed
The prayer Wheel within
Bali April 2009
129
time passages 2 Airspace fits poetry like feathers fit down, bonds rekindled in the ether. Light chases shadow into the night and through the light. I stare at stars and breach their beauty Realising that A generational gap Is merely a bridge
Bali April 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
traces The snow fell silently covering reverse eiderdown. insulating sound and light with equal oblivion. trees erect bushes plump
Slowly her shape grips the shadow. The lady of the lake coming home.
snowprints almost finger print clean.
Removed her cape face radiant eyes staring so crystal cut.
perfectly dusted awaiting the curtain of awareness to be drawn open.
Touch impeccable to souls desire
Bali April 2009
131
entering the cave When I go into The dark space alone It can take on hobbit Like proportions. When I go into the dark Space with awareness I have a torch I have a video camera Compact and poised. Alone I sludge through With awareness I learn. I heal faster. I don’t end up pocked By scars. The journey is the same You just gotta love The authentic tour guide
Bali May 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
twins Being my twin Can sometimes Be fraught With duplicity
We are stronger When we listen In relevance: Time channeled
Born to different mothers United on this Current earth
Thank you for Birthing each other.
To love, elevate Respect and heal Sometimes together Often physically apart Yet always one In the gaze of Unquestioned love We grow separately Acquiring knowledge. Assimilated as greater
Powerful yet power always pending Our movement A symphony Of sound chards Of perpetual love.
Bali May 2009
133
the age of innocense Innocense has a weight Especially as age Bites deeper. You can’t preserve it only living it. When you over examine Or live in the loft Of the over active mind It morphs as an adult worn thought More rigid and scarred Wearing a pin striped suit Sitting in a full Train carriage Commuting to work. Being lulled solicitously By the repetitive Rocking sway of Established societal values. Realising your important Yet secretly not content.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
You have the choice: Love or fear The dual carriageway Of your lived life I choose love I know I am right My child inside Wakes up for nurturing When I am in the eclipse of The loving moon
Bali May 2009
ECDYSIS
inner sm: e After the fear Comes the forgiveness. Starts from within But quickly morphs With unconditional love Of self and others. Judgment is banished. Self acceptance of Source energy Permits the infinity Of possibility Are you in love Were you in fear Fear exiled is New Light birthed
Bali May 2009
135
night ball The moon is a nipple In the gland of the sky An aureole of mounds The ocean Its bated play Being tugged And pulled Always maximum Extension to Cosmic inertia
My radar is synapsed In direction of Energy fused
It affects me
My cycle hugs The moon.
I love lunar metrics
Big brother Guiding sister
Bali May 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
amsterdam on my mind
Witches spokes Jutting out Spectators silent.
The cycle of life Defies links
Respecting the dredgers Of history.
Pedaled mercilessly In a direction ....Puzzled
Night falls The softened Sound absorbing stone
Bicycles chained To solid objects; Only spoked rim remains
I know my Amsterdam. Custom made To windowed Gravity of stare.
The dredged canals Of Amsterdam. Giving up their dead. A fountain of saddles; Wheels...
Bali May 2009
137
passing The glance of beauty Is awakened By a desire to express The non visible And visible Presence of true being Through self.
Bali May 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
healing elements Nature is abrupt In its rupture. Elements competing For eye of source. Silence is natures way Of writing the minutes Of association Without conflict. Elemental healing Is a curved jigsaw Of pieces hand crafted In the quest for wellness Of source essence
Bali May 2009
139
2012...departure date I went to the airport The Star Tetra Hedron Flight was already full With outward triangles Already overbooked To the tune of two. I suggested to the ships crier That maybe I could upgrade Using soul miles.
She and he laughed Out loud and asked me Whether I thought I was traveling Hotel California class? We suddenly all stared At each other realising We were both At the wrong Departure gate.
Bali May 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
14 In boarding school The mid term break In the first term Was Halloween. I would get a train From Gormanston Into Dublin; Brimming with Hope based dreams. Had 3 hours to kill In Dublin Before the train Gobbled metal West to Sligo. Always went to Wicklow Street To the Chinese Restaurant On the first floor. The queues snaked Up the stairs.
141
As you got closer To the mouth Of the restaurant You noticed The chemical acrid smell
The train took 4 hours to Sligo Never really interested To exceed speed
You were gestured To the table.
You knew the conductors And watched them Wobble down the aisles
You ordered almost Before you saw the menu
Last stop before Sligo Was Ballisodare.
Everything tasted The same and the Dessert; a gelatinous Culinary ejaculation Scented with tinned fruit
So close to my family So far from my dreams
I would wander By Golden Disc In Harcourt Street Record store And plan future Music growths
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Bali May 2009
ECDYSIS
tribal dancers Prior migrations From water to Scattered corners By the fragmented Lemurian convoys
Randomly Scattered Ancient whorls And knots of wood. Pleasantly blighting The wooden canvas
Atlantean dominance Flooded the worlds With unbridled Abuse of power
Impregnated phloem Hardened to natures Ambitious cartography.
Arthurean providence Led to a period Of righteousness. Upheld principles Of fair metal Gained legal tender To souls fair The knights table was round. Its diameter that Of an abundant golden oak.
Tributaries of once living Saged lines radiated inwards. Pointing meticulously To the source. The knights lay On the table Allowing essence Of wisdom To seap through them. Providence of man Precipice of thought
There were no circles Defining age.
Bali May 2009
143
aisprayer living arequest soul
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
the hand behind back dance In Bali The asphalt Is black Almost regal With bowed head But there is A ritual here Of much Deliberate reverence The art of Leaf brushing At sunrise Roads are relieved Of all leaves.
Hand behind back In an almost Subdued fencing stance As if the Gods Had sent a Facsimile message Thru the leaves For not mere mortals To read or ponder Dance and dance Your whirling wings Gosper fragile. Your smiles electric As you dance the dance Of the whirling dervish. Precise in your jousting Of pelvis rhythmical Coil and uncoil Fire in bubble
Bali May 2009
145
prowlers in my head I had a revolting Attack of nostalgia Yestermorrow
Destiny frowned In a madame tussauds Sort of blessing
It was a play Set in the future past. It made 1984 look dyslexic With an extra digit borrowed
Umbilical cord Used as a future Generational Skipping rope.
Nostalgia was A vegetaflower Of peacock proud Hope pummeled Itself in a blanketed Rasp of light Reverence was visiting A peep show But tragically Ran out of coins. No one trusted His paper tender Love controlled The card table And all the cards JOHN O’SULLIVAN
The sun was setting. I looked to myself And smiled knowing That ancestors are Ancestral only in distance. I song my line I line my song
Bali May 2009
ECDYSIS
flying Sometimes when I travel I feel compelled to think Rather than to write. I feel the throttle Around my throat. Muscularly thorax equalising relax. As the pressure to acquire Seeps from my body. I want to collect. Voices inside dictate The seepage of word flow
Bali May 2009
147
edging over Compelled to jump Off the roof To the accelerating Ground below. He thought back Thru his life In random acts Of memory contrition. He had so much Potential they told him When he stood In front of the panel Of experts. It had never happened For him. The wavelengths Of potential And reality Never fused Only confused
The spirits From the northern sky Never visited him He subsidied reality With television And other peoples Glamorously shallow lives. Hollow was is anthem Before desperation Grabbed the baton. . He stood on the edge Feeling almost magical A glade in summer From his childhood Was his last thought A gentle step To a new world Order of self
Bali May 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
climbing up Thoughts are threads.
The sky is cloudless.
Too many thoughts To quickly Creates a blanket That can smoother you.
Unwatched: Clouds form
You swim downwards Until you find the ladders base Or better still A submerged rung
Don’t mistake rain For the ocean
You climb From the ocean Into the sky Higher and higher Further away From you own Cluttered abyss.
It starts Raining.
Reverse threads Are equally Counter soul intuitive
Bali May 2009
149
future coordinates Compassion Nurtures brightness. Light follows Magnetic sharp Consciousness flicks The switch Healing repairs; Sustains truth Compassion and consciousness soldered creates healing
Bali May 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
passing The glance of beauty Is awakened By a desire to express The non visible And visible Presence of true being Through self.
Bali May 2009
151
space clearing for the advanced The house was Oddly oriented. An old sleeping area With its back To the steep cliff With waves That never Were quite in sync With the breaking Historical wash below The new room Was birthed With love: A caesarian Without incision The three sides Saw ocean Meadow and forest. The elements
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Were ecstatic With each other due to proximity. The room felt Like a ground floor Loft without The guilt. Slowly the two Soul lovers Moved purposefully Between the cluttered To the spacious room. All the windows And doors were wide open. There were no curtains. You could feel The flute like flow Of liberated air
ECDYSIS
They each carried Statues in a reverent Procession of Defined purpose. The paintings On the wall Seemed to change With the light And courage The room embraced And hearthed The new statues. Everyone knew Each other In a webbed like Wireless conference Call of love. As the sun set The two soul lovers Sat gazing into
Each others lo e. It was bright, Child like With children With white beards They were silent And suddenly Burst into raucous Laughter simultaneously God it was great Just being us
Bali May 2009
153
la day (19 hours) In a taxi From LAX Into someone’s Heart of LA.
Havoc on the freeway A symptom of racist Co-existence with Tacit Acceptance.
Its sunday afternoon. Gloominess is the Special of the day.
Graffiti clearest Form of signage And intent available
The friendly taxi driver Tells me the weather Is not LA
An honorable vietnam veteran In the centre of the traffic hand written Sign in hand. The closest thing To a connection visible
I look into the Restaurants with Their over sized posters Windows and people. Everyone looks stunned As if they all chosen The root canal option Without the anesthetic.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Everything is now cost plus Or happiness minus.
ECDYSIS
The locksmith business Booming: trumped only By “keys made� The Hollywood Travelodge bear logo Looks wasted, Perched precariously About to pounce playfully On the stoners below Still shocked at Almost being alive People in flash cars Without a cent To their name. Winging it Without indicators I am in the outskirts of Beverly hills now God its so flat Neiman Marcus Window display Feels android: No longer relevant After the reality deluge
155
Went to LA museum And saw Twombly And Rauschenberg Generously co-existing With light shared Saw an alternative Haydn Concert being recorded For PBS. Audience was Predominantly Jewish ....Why? Ate Mexican And shared food That I could have sworn Was previously chewed With a sponsorship deal by someone else before me. Ordered breakfast For one that cost $77.
Taxi back to airport And watched the anarchy Of check-in and security Where overweight Indifference in blue Puff ball shirts Ordained the days energy Really overweight people Tranced carrying non Bio-degradable plastic Similar to their Food offering about To be savagely annihilated Pending is in The air Has the circus Left town? Or is it merely The clowns running it?
LA May/June 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
lunar landing I see the moon Relief in tune. I feel your light Freedom so bright. I see myself in the mirror And you loom effortlessly. What is reality? Only what is created In the hearth of our souls We bless with less We love with more. I saw a full moon And felt lactated. . The clouds so fluorescent My intent so embracing Of humanity unnamed In the curtain call Of ultimate loving. Credits roll with more Than one name What’s my name? If my soul is in retrograde What of my heart?
California June 2009
157
yai She sits unlit remembering to forget. blurred infomercials morphineise her brain: disconnecting cells one unplug at a time.
the water is warm, so enticing as she sinks day by day into a soapy blur.
in Thailand as a child I smelt so much sitting in the air of a haired meadow.
when is the crossover between choice and no voice?
the clouds so loud the sky so high please don’t forget my sigh
California June 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
hovering This is the world calling And the spirits gathering. A call to arms With wings pledged. A race to begin And an age to complete Pleasured in light Stroked with intent A runway is needed But not if your a Soul helicopter.
Bali June 2009
159
colour show (from a plane) dawn from on high with height. a procession of spectral colours. coronation birth. a solemnity of innocence. soundless yet breathless. refracted, curved and curled horizoned light ordains a new day. throwing frisbee with the dawn celestials shrined without the frame of being beatified. not a moving statue in sight
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
neatly organised rectangular land below like flags of countries not yet birthed. hopeful in their colour robbed blandness. rivers dissecting like judges. lakes; a referee giving red card and disbelief to night darkness. I sit in isolation while surrounded by so many. earth and sky accepting the remoteness of closeness
Singapore-Frankfurt June 2009
ECDYSIS
the blessing Silent and sober Space and time Soul with solace Future pace Lovers past trace In current soul True love forever embrace
Stuttgart June 2009
161
ideally Imagine if you were your passion there would be no cracks in the pavement
Istanbul June 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
tipping point I see I saw See saw Wobbles Takes sides Becomes The dream Of all that Is possible With motion ....No emotion
Istanbul June 2009
163
religion is a code of ethical and spiritual conduct
ECDYSIS
joy fm istanbul The sun was smiling Long before it announced Its departure from The southern hemisphere. I watched and stretched as the cold railings Protected yet inhibited me From the clapping Bosporus aside me. Two mornings in a row I saw the sunrise: One before One after sleep.
That sums up the Buoyed balance Of my Istanbul. I sit in the car Gilbert O’ Sullivan’s “Alone again naturally”. How apt for my past How hopeful for Others future dawns
Istanbul June 2009
165
art visual integration second to none blended as one
Amsterdam June 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
ireland untitled Folklore never began With a promise No matter how hard You wanted to impress The oppressor Hedge schools Were not just for Vertically challenged Celtic souls Cordial is sweet Being cordial Can be bitter From upstairs down Shaped shoes Patterns royal Seal pending. No echo in the walk. Only angular assault
Planted Ireland Had essence stronger Than the taste Of freedom Struggled toil Washed from land Through people Back to earth Dreams, an un-taxable Proponent of hope Where only currency Is God in whatever guise Holy wells, Grotoes in dark Dank fern covered Forested shrines.
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Coffin ships, Bay waiting Where guillotined Families never to be Reunited except Through letters Fatally sealed Stories handed down That become legends, Eventually missed myth Drills of potatoes Rotting. Pungent In reformist’s Nostriled pride
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Love sought Desperate Never knowing The glimpsed future. Stubborn in church Infallible in soul Old Ireland Floats in myth Where Papal bull Does not graze easily In rock walled Weary fields
Bali June 2009
ECDYSIS
trapped born free growing true to others values.
circular patterns adorned spirals invalid values
crossover to self while drowned by others values
forged alliances living together hopeful values
experimenting tunnel confusion from others values alone with self forced adulthood war values never recovered buried shrapnel confused values adulthood forced fusion torn values love kept arms length time values
new daughter life defined soul value breath taken purposeful Inner mirror where truth lurks value is.
Bali June 2009
169
brain dead Angels can’t be Cadaver lovers The catalogue Proudly boasted The people sitting In the room Waiting for A sighting Seemed unmoved By time Especially their own The door opened And the specimen Was sighted Table centre
It was relaxed In appearance Layers of sponged thought With expired memory And dreams Lying there. Each region specific To a drilled range Of sensations Visiting hours Suddenly ended. The shrinking orb Restless to return To its refrigerated tomb
Bali July 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
silence The space That silence inhabits Is blossomed With spirit Tranquil in its Longing to wait Waiting in its longing Anything is possible In the freeze frozen Lightness of slow Gentle pulsing
Its a primed canvas Sitting in the corner Of the studio. Humble yet intended To break free into A burst of colour And tonal spectrum If you ride it Like a wave Only you know The co-ordinates Of the brokered beach
Bali June 2009
171
you never asked me I turned on the TV today I tuned to MTV I was shocked I saw two songs without interruption. No reality shows with spoilt teen girls telling their father to fuck off with pride before their wedding day. I watch the ridicule of modern viewing. Everything and everyone broken down to lowest level of debasing. That’s convenient really: you never do anything since all you see is everyone else under achieving; live on the griddle.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
I see the national debts game show scale. Future generations leveraged to lunacy. Game show hosts conducting Russian roulette with my great grand children’s dreams. All election results being questioned. More votes cast than people subjugated. Greed is hiding in the shadows. Changing clothes but not intent.
ECDYSIS
Pyramids and Ponsi’s scheme together to shelve naive dreams. Gutted yet collaborative with believing soothed promises; egos stroked to be allowed to participate. We have made it all to be won as we unzip ourselves for yet another acceptance of society’s skewed release.
Bali July 2009
173
the word according to m I went to burning man Without an inflammatory Thought in astral sight. I was born in The flower sign Of all things possible In blossom spurred. Tracy talked about Revolutions and whisper And I dreamed of Buddha shells With whorls complete.
I am beautiful As the earth is round Platitudes of time In light refracted....profound Agendas are traced in time Dreams merely in soul rhyme. If I sketch and sketch I will wretch and wretch And in dawn I will know My pain My love My sow
Bali July 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
tri hata karana Sunrise meditation In Sayan is a dedication Of purpose and love To the universe Of space and self Sitting by the river The light beams Laser like Purifying the sacred Ayung As it flows through And passed into future.
I ponder Tri Hata Karana Thinking of other religions and mythology Which use triad imagery. I see shamrocks and fathers And sons and spirits holy.
I see a coconut bobbing Trapped between two rocks. Much movement To stationary avail.
The connection of man to man. Man to earth. Man to God feels right. Layered purpose. Hope and Ultimate resurrection.
The leaves drenched In growth light Stomata Smiles.
In a sense the Ridiculousness Of abundance
Bali June 2009
175
warbled music I feel like A big pond In a little fish As I trace The scales Of fish heads And tails Present tense Future dreams Of bars that rhyme Yet sometimes dual Of notes to lute Float to sky
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Wrapped loosely In a tight line Of eternal spectral light. I pick up brush And apply to canvas knowing that I am the sacred universe Of Zen blessed
Bali July 2009
ECDYSIS
177
cahir brannach revisited Ten years almost Since I last visited This time with my son Fearghus and Mike: The man of images. The history still Upsets my soul. Tiny windows protecting From wind sadly not From the inevitability Of famine death. All atrocious schemes Start off as someone’s Great idea or plan. Ireland was that once Planted and plucked. The moss stones Are thicker with memories Sponged acceptance Of pain muffled By distance and time The wind screams the Unlistened to truth As it bounces up the valley Gaining the momentum Of histories tears
The bent tree on hill top Still a barometer to The brutality of Wind and will. A tree grows in a hearth Without a visioned heart. An unfinished symphony In the unfairness of death Lived in a life where One can only guess The extremes they went to Boiling vines and grasses Only to die stone dead. To get to the deserted village you pass by the house of where John O’ Donohue was born. His mother still lives there. His old black BMW is Still parked outside Year 2000 galway registered. Its pointing down the hill Poised just like the famine Victims with heaven the only awaiting address of solace and Solas .
Burren June 2009
bowed water head Flowers between showers Unwrapped with a Temporary baptism Of earth purpose Moist fragility Weighed down; Bowed head Slowly rising As light impales The gravity of Heated resurrection
Galway June 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
afternoon dumps In the Burren Visiting deserted Famine villages And pubs. We stopped in Kilfenora At Lenane’s pub. The bearded owner and alchemist served me. He suggested to try A half cider with a “Small blasht” of Guinness To “keep the head longer”
As the afternoon wore on I felt it was chasing me; Hounding me with fecal malice. Every step I took I stood in it. I imagined the dog As a furry fecal forensican Wearing headphones Studying the DVD’s Chuckling so hard That he needed An atomiser.
He was right But my head did Not last longer.
One release Huge impact. A beer garden That felt like An open prison With weather Changing as rapidly As wardens
The clouds strobed The ground like War of the worlds Does advanced yoga poses. Outside by the main bench A dog had freshly shat.
After thirty years visiting the Burren I still don’t feel an insider Just an outsider Finding my inner soul ….without traces.
Galway June 2009
179
symphony The stones dredged; Like they were Feeding waters ....suckling.
Leaping fish; angular anointment Of ruptured host
Racing and tracing The sky; Each time a new Canvas primed In the light of Connemara’s pact
Water reeds swaying; Religious fervor In the rippled bending
Snake sun Scattered scales Water setting.
The 12 apostles of height Silently surveying Whilst allowing clouds To mop their brows.
Spectral soul .....Fathomless.
Competing currents; Purpose reversed
Ballynahinch July 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
twin sons of different mothers Where was I before you were born? Did your pulse ever stray from The rhythm of our combined being? Stars aligned nurtured the joy Of unfamiliar twin soul birth …as one. When the sky opened The earth closed Aware of mortal coils Sprung to prayers gilded. The rupture of my water Was lunar, tidal. I was your ebb You were my flow.
It never dawned on me That you would awake To the truth that life and light Although sometimes bright, Can fade and thaw Like frost in my summer. Cancel my death I am not born yet Either as you or me. Mother where are you?
Bali August 2009
181
remembered Pleasure me With the thought That I was once Of Fianna fancied. When nipples Stood proud on men As opposed to Being referred to As breasts. How I waited For the starting gun Of opportunity To start in slow motion; Sound heard moments After smoke darting from shaft In the locker rooms Of retrospect Where all boots Are spotless in avoidance Of contact, I sit in the corner Smoking in a non Smoking area Without inhalation.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Everyone drops Their head Waiting for a sign Stronger than the last Reality bites without eye contact Bless me father For I have sinned I fear Its been too long since your Last confession
Bali August 2009
ECDYSIS
days of birth The space between Birthdays is measured In months weeks days. As age sucks me up Without missing a gulp There is a disconnect Between time and space Hours become the dual Between purpose and dreams. Obituaries as common As party invites. Everyone spends more time On less to make up.
The sky and clouds Are for spirits unraveling Not dreams furrowed In tundra lands Where rings Are of faeries Not gold. Sit in your chair And scan your landscape. What is of silence And what of movement? Dredge your phone book Of thoughts and figure When is your number up
Bali August 2009
183
choices If you bought Me roses would You have the Thorns removed? Would you taste My food first If I was at a Dodgy food stall? Would your toe Be immersed first In an acid Rain shower? If you read My will; Would you Be happy or sad? If death is To death; Then what Of your life?
Bali August 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
shanghai club Children of peaches Smile in beauty drenched She invented And invested In a new cocktail; Myers rum, creme de cassis And soda. “Radiant ruby� Was born. Space defines Current purpose Not office space. I live in the dream Of being dreamt.
Tokyo Underground Bar September 2009
185
tama time Sitting in space Devoted to sharing Of light and vines Tentacles trailed. I don’t hear voices, Only shadows Of laughter That drop effortlessly From the ceiling Of tama time. The badges on The chefs jacket Are of joy; Not judgment. Success is not measured In spend per person But happiness Per service rendered.
Tokyo Tama Restaurant August 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
parallel runways Just landed Night flight Into Narita. Tokyo always feels Like an unmarried auntie Waiting patiently For you with Cocoa (Over sugared). La Guardia feels Like the party’s ended. Everyone’s got a hangover. Your just about to Pick up the entire tab As you hail a cab .
Charles de Gaulle; An octopus without A designed brain. Artistic in design verging on autistic In delivery. Attitude seaping From every Exaggerated non motion. I love airports. cultural portal points: Like uncovered scabs For all the world To scratch in Braille
Tokyo September 2009
187
movement When she walked There was an Over current Under current. She wore black To sow her light. A secret pact she Never discussed With anyone; Especially herself Her own cult Was memberless; Not because of Lack of applicants; Just not enough Boxes to place the X
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
When they got close She perspire; Almost a shining. On stage; She was the toast Of all those who drank deep But always counted Their swallowing.
Bali October 2009
resonance is a tidal flow
sentence The verdict came quickly Guilty of innocence Was her crime And punishment. A double whammy Both inside and outside her.
In the courtroom She filed it with her outrage. When the hammer Hit the verdict She simply smiled And inhaled her past.
The jury could not Understand her. The character references Did not stack her up.
The last word In her mind a Was voweless
She was not cold; More aloof. Interested in her thoughts And dreams on Floating feathers
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
i
Bali October 2009
o
u
ECDYSIS
shadow play play shadow
She loves doing deals She still wears black Maximises the impact Minimises the contact She loved trance music But always on her own It never judged her and She could throw her arms Around the beat: seduced While on her terms only The sway of her body Let her feel Her natural rhythm. Nobody stalked her; Only her thoughts Unhatched in their Obscure meaning; Known only to her In a foreign language That linguaphone Was just inventing
Her safety mechanism Was always distance. Leaving parties without Saying good-bye A trade mark. Happiness a metric Not allowed to be Measured by others. Sometimes she tried To remember when The disconnect had begun. Her lungs swelled And she knew the Self interrogation time Had passed again. Another day without Being self discovered The touching Her calling card. Disconnection Observation Never giving. Watching the salivating Testerone/estrogen Followers that were Never allowed to be Without her cutting
191
If she was a gardener She invented the maze Watching her Sucking on a cigarette Was carnal in a Yoyueristic way Watching the tension Of lung on eye; A glance thrown Like a scrap for the Followers to devour. Telephone numbers Exchanged never accurate A slight of hair Smiling. Glowing In self conspiracy Dinner parties Scent nostriled As she fed the lines Laughing inside.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Why was boredom The religion Of the classes? When she loves She rotates the Earth s axis. The power The want The need The decoy. She is plural In her being And inner desires
Bali October 2009
ECDYSIS
before I remember the Night before clearly. I went to a party In an adobe structure Full of people Known and unknown Kindred through words. A keyboard of souls Some spoke at me Others thru me. I left in anticipation Of the Saturday: The day you came
Bali October 2009
193
spirit It has no Business card. It visits to Anoint possibilities Non tethered Brimming with Soaked light It enfolds Before unfolding Its carpet Its magic If you step onto it. Simply flow Your being And just Go along For the ride Of your life
Bali October 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
markings A tattoo is a Memory scape. Timeless in Its adornment A claim to the many pasts they cannot see but sense Immune to the sun; A scarring that is intentful Signals from a Different dimension
A band of warriors Disparate in their Desperation to be Expressed of who Their essence be. Blessed are the scarred For they Shell inherit The kingdom Of the ink.
Bali October 2009
195
vowing The space created In our soul For marriage Is a longing For coupled blossom; Of two individuals Into a spliced potion Of passion and purity. We search; We wonder And wander Into the space Of communion; Of commitment. Antoin and Louise, Embark to a Place of renewed Purpose.
A space where love Looks into the eyes Of truth and possibilities Where dreams are Sensorially vibrant And smiles are the Days of the week A family united A love defined The funnel of love Embraces you both.
Bali October 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
forming Cut and paste The trace Of your lace As you delve Spiral formed Into the reservoir Of previous au revoir’s
Bali November 2009
197
the gift Watching souls blossom Is the graduation Of possibilities lived. A tuning of purpose Divine in its axis Spiral and whirling In its dervish. Things flow Everything glows
A perfect melody Endlessly looped A sorcerer’s glint where all predictions Are just that. Where acquired Knowledge with Channeling Manifests new Found tracts of Dreams incarnate.
Bali November 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
motion Time flys To a space Freeze frozen In motion. What determines The boundaries? Vector like Arced Visiting But not Necessarily Attaching DNA of space Boneless
Bali November 2009
199
the levantine Bullets flew in Beirut. Buildings like a Tom and jerry Cheese pocked. Taxi inner light Switched on at Each check point. Nobody sure of Who was running what In those memories Of 1991. A land torn: Shredded by Financed sectarianism The people Obliviously numbed.
The various mortals fighting: Pandering to their Gods With beatification And benediction scenting In the barrel and offerings. At night The city Came alive With overground Underground life. The Lebanese Are a curious nation. Resilience and Exaggerated IMAX dreams The national mantra. Nothing is shocking In Lebanon. Its already happened Ricochet is pointless
As if all the faculties Of the senses were Not in the right sequence
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Bali November 2009
ECDYSIS
trivial less suit I once watched Wind blowing In someone else’s hair to figure out My own mood.
My blood In my veins Feels luke warm After violated Transfusions
Why is it that Adverts about banks Fundamentally Fuck me off.
I used to think There was automatically A good side To society Until I realised Someone/bodies bought the whole thing
New cities being Built with integrity Simply don’t Stack up After Shanghai.
Profit is not named After a soul effigy How about you?
Bali November 2009
201
things that go without saying often are best said
ECDYSIS
re-hatched The same Thoughts Honor and abuse us In different phases Of our lives. Not ready To be born Under the sign Of light Or darkness. Plucked prematurely To administer: Hence the anxiety. We are attacked By thoughts. Like a library Where no record Is kept of borrowed Or returned books. We know they Are all there: But where?
Bali November 2009
203
when i was younger Living by Ayung As human trapped. Wild forest Wilder spirit Collectivism of desire Expressed by swarmed Statements of being You lived and ran Amplified by just The presence of Your life and vibration I see you there now Glimpses thru the Mashrabiya of time
Bali November 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
gu-ru Funny what We learn To forget To remember. In Sanskrit It means Darkness And light
The spectral plight; catalysed Into the place Of sameness with The emphasis On the process Of simply being In the flow of The now
Yet we spend Our life searching For the gurus Outside
Where sunrises And sunsets embrace In the purity Of one
When all along The answers dwell Oh so munificently Within
Bali November 2009
205
island snogging I love the idea of seaplanes Dragging their history Behind them: Sludged take off The Maldives; Crop circles On water under and over water patina Of colour form And depth; Ghost like And freckled Duck egg blue With neptune’s Melanin spots. Celadon blue; Menthol green; In a Maldovian ocean Can only be seen. A reverse X ray Reading. Faces and traces;
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
Marine dynasty Unsunk footsteps Of God. You turn The page And see only water. The view returns Giving an encore: Under water islands Like puppets begging For light and stage The reef has only Just begun: In the blink Of an y .
Maldives Seaplane November 2009
ECDYSIS
their off Currents create A zig zag of an elastic spinal column. Newer generations Lurch dis-harmoniously; Froth like to The hammer. Islands mediate Flow. Land meditates Grow.
Low hanging clouds Soothe water. Pretending to Wipe its brow. Humidity knows best
A staging ground For further assault Of rip and tide
Trenches are Neptunes Storage vortex: Chasms of life, Darkness and Silent knolls.
Maldives Seaplane November 2009
207
Celadon blue; Menthol green; In a Maldivian ocean. A treasure chest Laden with The burden Of abundance.
reethi rah It was an island Of dreams even Before it birthed itself. A space Of natures Grace Light Impaled From morning To night. under and over water patina Of colour form And depth;
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
I sit and watch The ocean; A theatre of Movement and Complex simplicity. Surrounded In the traced Place of space That separates Island from Earths alchemy
Maldives November 2009
ECDYSIS
guidance The light of life Dances an impossible straddling movement. Cavernous gap Between agony And ecstasy. All that is dominant Is not what it seems. Compounded fractures Of fractious discord; Splintered soul soldering.
Eye of time, Of touch; Feeling Wanting; Desiring. Wholesome breath Of soul breath.
Bali November 2009
209
mind music Flutes miming Some other Instruments notes. Never written down Spiral captivation Of note Of message. The ciphers Sit in the hall Waiting for Their sign Will it ever come?
Bali November 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
the bypass In another taxi. White nodding dog On dashboard Offering frozen Tacit approval. Its Sunday; Bali spirits Know it.
Main road Versus village road, Two different islands Of expression.
Space pace lightened T shirt’s messages; A global array Of sacred Written offerings. Less transient Than incense stuck. Shops closed, Open, Unsure.
The modern; Cast in unfathomable Change. The traditional; Having a light anointment Of acid diluting the perimeter Of external values. Sitting on a park bench Watching the unfolding Cacophony of possibilities
Bali November 2009
211
ice cream Ice scream you scream we are in love scream you burst forth to impale my needs ....to juice. when we met you melted me you soaked me you scented me your mark calorifically reminding me that all that is bad is truly great
Bali November 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
spirit stick It was two days After the full moon. This month is unique; Two full moons: The second will be The blue moon; A mystical emotional Fullness of milk memory. The people stare Into space just Before sunset. The men more stunned; The women fatalistic
The light through The trees teases them. The spirits prodding With the gentleness Of ease. Energy partial To the thought Of their presence.
Bali November 2009
213
quirky I asked her If she liked groups. She responded That being random Was her preferred tipple. The cocktail waiter Explained it was not On the menu. She frowned And took Her business Elsewhere The sound Of the ocean was almost Rhythmical.
She was a Creative spirit Who insisted That canvas Was not in Her blood. Ode to the Stretched parity of Potential
Bali December 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
reconciliation TA sinister conspiracy That is time and age. When they Were born They were not Told of their Inevitably entwined Fated destiny Should I lead Or follow asked The two characters Of each other: Shuffling quietly In the corner music less.
Their movement Shifting almost defying The jerkless verb To Salsa. They recognised Yet resented The terms Of their contract Which they both felt written outside Their scope A conspiracy sinister That is time and age
Bali December 2009
215
harland+wolff Shipyard Silently void. Much history No future Sectarian Soul Selection Same God Splintered to Constant recoil
Buoyed From one port To another.
ship after ship Built and launched.
Silent Lapping At quay side Of conscience Questioning What the reformation Actually reformed?
Thoughts Of love And hate Welded;
Bali December 2009
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
ECDYSIS
217
JOHN O’SULLIVAN
John O’Sullivan was born in Sligo, West coast of Ireland in 1962. He has been writing poems since 1974 and this is his first poetry publication. An ardent traveler who has visited more than 57 countries and lived in 7. He also is a painter who has exhibited in UK, Norway, Egypt and a collaborative photographic/Poetry exhibition in Ireland. He dwells in Jimbaran Bay Bali with his family.
JOHN O’SULLIVAN