Mind over Matter - A Book of Poems by John Dullaghan - HTML preview

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MIND

OVER

MATTER

1

MIND OVER MATTER

A BOOK OF POEMS

By John Dullaghan

3

Dedicated to

My wife, Frances

and

my children

Katie Marie

and John Robert

5

Poetry Sections

Best (Of The Rest) pg. 9

Family pg. 59

Football pg. 81

Politics pg. 91

Misc. pg. 99

Group Home pg. 123

Early Poems 1992 - 1993 pg. 143

Early Poems 1994 pg. 168

Early Poems 1995 pg.189

Early Poems 1996 pg. 199

Early Poems 1991 – 1st yr pg.207

7

Best

(Of The Rest)

9

Our Life

(Creation)

Our life, is

Position

And our life, is

A constant

Transition...

And our life's a relation

One with unending

Obligation...

And fleeting elation; but life

When at it's best

Inspired by love -

Is creation.

11

Future Success

Never let someone

Else’s anger

Provide for your

Un happiness

You can, and will

Find your very own...

And never allow

Someone else’s pain

To prevent you from

Attempting

To achieve

Your dream...

And never

Ever

Allow someone else’s failure

To ruin your future

Success.

Published by “The Advocate”, NY

and “Parnassus Literary Journal”, GA

Correct Usage

I saw a friend

And called him

"Sir" -

He said

Not me -

Don't call

Me

That,

I

Work

for a living...

I told him

That is exactly

When the expression

Finally

Becomes

Appropriate.

Published by “The Advocate”, NY

13

My Duty

I didn't do my duty, see

Because I didn't write

Today...

I had to sell some shoes

And shirts,

Today, you see?

Uncomfortable situations

I did avert…

Many issues, did I skirt, because

Evidently, my opinion

May pervert

Or convert some simple soul...

I haven't done my duty, see

I didn't live my word, today

I held opinion back

And followed a narrow track

I gave the world the best of me, now Nothing else is left in me, but

Now

I've done my duty

See?

May not pay, but...

Handed a book of poems the other day to the older black woman who lived across the street the one who’d always been nice to us when no one else would even speak

to us whites at the end of the block, we heard whispers and Spanish whenever we were within earshot, would insure the proper distance, but not her,

and the next time we saw each other She said, “That one about Death and dying and your friend in the ditch accident and can’t take all the death anymore...

that one I really liked, that

one made me cry...

My son died, you know

he was young, your age, just turned thirty four and I get depressed now, I see a therapist and all that but those were so true, I loved them...

Thank you so much

for sharing them with me.”

after I thank her for the compliments I thought...

Money, sure as hell

isn’t everything.

‘96

15

Not Like This

(Martin Grenzhauser, 7/17/96)

At first, his feet

Must’ve sunk a good foot

or two. And he probably didn’t think Much would come of such

A stupid thing as mud

Sliding up around the ankles

Steady climbing velvet noose…

Rest assured he did not panic.

But next the sludge broke open

the six inch gushing water main

Filling the eight foot ditch

With water, 1,500 gallons per minute As mud caved –

Graves were made

In a matter of seconds

The water rose up to his head…

Panic. Anchored to the Earth

By less dirt

than he’d shaken off his football pants Less than he’d scraped

From his fingernails

In his short life…

Not him –

Not now…

Not

Like this.

No More (Tired)

I’m tired of death

Friends dying, kids

Of friends dying, I’m tired

of dying

a little bit inside

Every time

I’m tired of not

Crying

And sometimes

When I can take no more

Dying…

Crying.

17

Great Divide

I know what not to make of death

I only know I feel his breath

As one more somber friend of mine

Marches toward the great divine.

Smoking Selection

Without a smoke

I reach, into

The overflowing tray

Fertile ground

From another day

For a butt to smoke

'Cause I don't mind

The wasted rind

If, and when

I am in

This kind

Of bind.

19

ReSettling

Our lives

Are in such

A delicate

Sort of balance

That we have become

Afraid

Fearing any

Kind of change

Cowering, before

The unknown

Settling...

Published by

"Parnassus Literary Journal", GA and "Writer's Exchange", IL

Love and Kindness

The smallest act of kindness

Can turn the darkest day -

Enlightening the sorrow filled

With love as sunshine’s ray.

6'92

21

Perception/Deception

As men we are fooled -

(Women and Children, too)

By fact and perception

Ourselves and our minds

-Our Ego-

At the source of deception.

8'92

What The Hell Was That?

I sense a figure fleeting,

But the image is evasive -

And turning quickly

From the meeting

I confront my senses,

Pleading...

What the hell was that?

8'92

23

Déjà Vu (Don't I Know You?) The game we are playing, well

I've been here before -

And your attempts

At lucidity

Reflect instead

Your stupidity…

2'93

C-C-C-Caffeine

Sugar coated sugar water -

Mountain Dew, I gotta have it

Warm, cold, or a little old

I don't care...

I just need it

Need it

Need it.

2'93

25

Now THAT'S Nasty

A sneeze

I saw

Sent

Unsightly disease

Through the air

With the greatest

Of ease...

So cover your goddamn mouth

PLEASE!

A Quest(ion) for Love

If not lost in love

Is not love then lost?

If love is but a halfway measure

At what cost the smaller pleasure?

And is it love

And love alone

Through which people live?

-

So the quest(ion) remains

(Unanswered)

Endless; At every turn

We cannot ignore

The gnawing yearn...

And we seem to deplore

The constant burn

Could it be that man

Will never learn

Just what his love

Is for?

Published by “The Advocate”, NY

27

Pain

Yeah... Well

With friends

You get

enemies

And with the good

You'll find some bad

But only love can bring

The worst you ever had.

Published by “The Advocate”, NY

and “Parnassus Literary Journal”, GA

The Eyes Have it

One needs

Tangible proof

To accuse

And have someone believe

You; But I have all

The proof I need,

-I've been convinced-

The proof is in

Your eyes; Although they try

To lie

To me.

9'93

29

Again, This Time With Feeling

I enjoy most a feeling

To set my mind reeling

Intense and creating

A vision from someone

Who is truly believing.

11'92

G

o Out And Play!

Inside, outside

It's all the same to me...

Just don't you sit and watch -

That fucking TV

10'92

31

Oh, yeah…

There is an underlying

Negativity

To the world, to

This life

And to allow

Any extended

Feelings of happiness

Towards it

proves to be

a grave mistake...

I gladly make

and regretfully

remember

I Can't Get No...

Nothing

Satisfies;

All pleasure

Somehow defies

Expectation...

And elation

Of minute

Duration

Soon passes us by...

33

Learning Nothing, Knowing All

We need the quick review

We need to know the score

We want it in a paragraph

And we want nothing more...

Published by “Parnassus Literary Journal”, GA

Mobility?

Take your lot and like it –

The world would seem to say...

And if you can't, just fake it –

Can't change it anyway...

35

Hello

I need someone to listen

Someone to lend an ear

But no one cares to hear me

No one will shed a tear

If all my work's for nothing

As in my heart I fear.

Madness (Genius of Heart)

Most madness has

The scent of sorrow

As madness steals

Dreams of tomorrow...

What madness means

Is lost on man

Yet he seeks it out

Whenever he can; we see

Life tears apart

The genius of the heart, until

All that one has left

Is creation of their art.

Published by

“The Advocate”, NY 9'93

37

Afraid To Disagree

(Repression & Denial)

Most people would rather

Be in line with popular opinion

Than to be unpopular

-ly and factuallyCorrect

Never contradict about

What really matters; never

Religion or

Politics, of course, no no no

(Focus on your favorite

Distractions, sports or pop culture BS

Whatever keeps you sleepwalking…

Anything but what really matters)

Go along to get along

Agreeing to agree

Afraid to be uncomfortable

Afraid to disagree, we

(Cont.)

Scurry off to work, and back

Moles blindly gorge and rest; Hide

Quietly, and all too briefly

Then out again, life is constant

-ly demanding, we are led around

By the nose, and

It would seem that no one notices

It would seem that no one knows

But I know

Repression and denial

Whenever I smell

It’s stench.

4-09

39

An Idea of The Relative Importance of Things

I only deal in facts

In the way that I can sense them

What I see is my perspective

If nothing else...

We own interpretation.

Food like substances”

(Affect the bottom line)

Cheap food is usually unhealthy

Food. We spend much less per capita Feeding ourselves and our families

than most countries –

At great cost to our health.

Packaged, over processed

Less nutritious, it’s no longer

A question, to me

Of what are we thinking, it’s obvious…

We are not giving our food, or

Ourselves, any thought.

If it’s true that we are

What we eat, we are our own worst…

Suicidal enemy

We are allowing ourselves

To accept cheap, corporate

Waste; Packaged into

Attractive “food like substances”.

The corporations will never care

Except about their bottom lines

Unless