A festival for all who so to hail,
Who freely get anticipatory bail
To break all social norms,
Turn on head all set forms
And get a nod, the powerful to rail.
A mixed blur of mischief,
Freedom, so what if brief,
Where humour and prank’s prime,
Irreverence no crime.
In any a kingdom
Carnivals blur wisdom--
Hoping to kiss bosom
Gets to kick but bottom,
Yet, what so, how so ‘tis,
Joy unfolds if not bliss,
A toast is it, all transgressions to tail.
________________________
Happenings|12.03.2025| joy, colour
Note: The Indian festival of colour called Holi was celebrated on 13/14 March.
do we want to know what’s behind
it - it the show, the drama, the comedy, the crown?
roll the tape, blind us
to the truth of the goofs
snapping turtles, caramel
the lines deceased
irreverence released
do you want to fall behind
the line, congo style
playing the bongos
on air, blowing off steam
Ricky’s loving
her deep red hair
henna is just a trick
he does tricks
morality took a leap, why
the dial into sleep?
David’s herding, no one heard
the sheep.
the bees buzzing
the birds whatzing
the show a go go
look on tape
to see what you believe
no one
in tv land is dressed in virtue
it’s a really big shoe
Ed Sullivan’s size
throw the curtain
don’t look behind the curtain
memorize the lines
even prairie lines
so sweet and innocent
don’t analyze
you’ll be disappointed
don’t buy the book
it’s not done by the book
there’s a cover for a reason
don’t meet the action figures
they don’t bend
you can pop their heads off
they’re not worth
a million dollar man
Farrah Fawcett wouldn’t give
him an eye
it’s rich
his life’s unreal
roll the real
world
The alienation that leads to human tragedy
it centres around the irreverence shown towards the truth
Nothingness has this strange way of manipulating something
Take for arguments sake can a liar become truthful
or bad in sinful manners become good and serving faith
murder is considered an act of kindness getting rid of burdens
What way do we model this insecurity to be addressed
forgiveness is considered the weak minded's choice
to barter they say what right have you to judge yourself worthy or a better person for that matter
The altered facts underneath transparency can be seen as the guilty ego gutted with this twisted speech
has now shaped those lacking soul purpose
Cold heart's will always see negative promoting hell
some beings they lack any source of moral stability
to be truthful
put a snake in a suit and it certainly will wriggle out of it
“I'm ready to go anywhere
I'm ready for to fade
Into my own parade
Cast your dancing spell my way
I promise to go under it”.....Quote by Bob Dylan
I AM A STRANGER HERE without you
I CAN'T EXPLAIN why
I walk through this RING OF FIRE
WHERE THE NIGHTIME IS THE RIGHT TIME-
when out of the darkness I SHALL BE RELEASED
from the uncertainty of my struggle
There are 500,000 souls here
with one voice of peace and love, and I…
am finding my voice in Neverland-
intensely running in the circles of my irreverence
to create the chords within the tunes…
my music - my rhythm – my soul
my words to change the world
Looking to my orator of this brotherhood
MR. TAMBOURINE MAN,
the designated ghost of my hope
hammering the jingling beat
that shackled my feet to follow
this haunting melody inside me
where I am the master of my freedom
But…
You are my song of songs,
YOU ARE AS GOOD AS YOU'VE BEEN TO THIS WORLD,
the hand I hold to walk in this light
lingering sweetly in the HIGH TIME
of my experimental chaos
that I so fiercely hold onto
within the bosom of my art
that rages ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER
of my soul
MY DARLING BE HOME SOON
He embodies the irreverence
essence humanist
breaking rules and patterns
INSIGHTS
recalled
words
hollowing
out a memory
in a trompe l’œil
of
a
disparate
miscellany
held
aloft&
framed
in view
a living
collage
ongoing
carefree
&
literally
done,
looking out
from
a study in
irreverence
re-imagined
&
half-present
self-involved
serious
purposed
in
a
visual game
so smooth
a
grand thesis
of
intrigue
or statement
of
continuous
imagination
NOTE:THIS IS AN OPEN(organic) FORM VERSE using spaces&breaks without grammatical symbols ,the ' open' relies upon 'the one breath limitation' & so inherently requires the 'reader' (reciter) to input and responds thus making this enigmatic form a two way interplay & interpretatIon unique to the moment& changing according to mood is inherently variable.
the scapular of your anguish
wounds the insolent chest of your enlightenment with blood
a world in disenchantment cries its drunken hymns
but only jackals lick the nectar of these pains
because the night drives away the naive and innocent
and it is with the irreverence of the lost that we cry out loud
trying to defile every throne that rises against us
the time will come when we will immolate the new messiah in fire
placating the wrath of the raging oceans and their deities
the insurgent skies and their merciless stains
we'll bring back a forgotten golden age
and then we'll set all the new traps
to drain for the last time the voracity
of every idol that is eternalized
when we stagger weak across the earth
and we allow them to enslave us.
The crescendo
of love I’ve had before
Rushes through the air
The memories
Of who we thought
I overcame myself with
Lost in worship
of each other
With the irreverence
of a charlatan
Tongue-in-cheek
Until the hands
came apart
Closed alone
ending each piece
but melodies
have a way of
embedding themselves
when the music is gone
As the words fade
you forget the face
They aren’t as important
as the notes
Fueling a smile
strong enough to part
eyes closed
to tomorrow
In moments
like this
Reasons to find
the morning
Aren’t difficult
to come by
We've gathered here today to watch this
knot of holy matrimony, but my children of God,
listen to the words of warning from the creator
who made you.
He wants us to live in peace, to live together as brothers and
to treat each other with love.
He pleads: why are you failing me?
I gave you the riches of the earth,
why are you burning the house down
with your wanton desires, your neglect of the future,
with your endless quarrels, with your wars and bloodshed?
Stop turning every landscape into a swamp, stop living
your dreams without limits, your irreverence for the wild life,
your savage deforestation, your racial superiority, your human rights abuse.
Let us pray for peace, amen.
I carry the world on my shoulders
but it's heavy, any moment now
like a toy building block it will come
tumbling down merrily merrily
all just a dream, a joy imperfect.
To be imperfect is my true joy
detached from the dreariness of life
no regrets for visions turning sour
I stand on a stage acting my roles
caring not if I forget my lines.
Nothing can tarnish my confidence
blunders shrugged off with irreverence
my deep play a ruminating ride
into casual elegance leavened
with an optimistic wariness.
Like aging, my competence conceals
patches of wrinkles, not to be smoothed
into a sense of mediocrity
not quite belonging to anyone
but myself and I am my own man.
@jjote 063021
Reaching out for you in that unconscious sort of way
awakening loudly in the moment of this night
traces of presence called you were no longer
as though you had erased yourself from the bed
seen or felt...feeling loss of your touch, laughter
kindness, irreverence...teasing me...
connecting with you is
Awakening
Innoculate against the forces
of the dark spectrum and it's Siren tune.
It's sickly pale green and gold hues. Monochromatic scale of hallucinogenic hopelessness.
Uses your Pride's Holden Magnet in it's vacuum.
A fog in the distance closes in,
like a Harpy in Venusian Projection,
streaming obscenity,
zooming in mirror of it's dirty vanity.
Principalities stalk the bog of your ruin.
Embalming your soul into insanity, Heretic Cocoon.
The Dance of Death's pompous Melody.
Dreamweaving sutured organ,
piping your fog into Mummy Womb.
Nightwalkers overlook the ritual.
Demon Satellites orbiting your perdition.
They argue this violation is consensual.
Taking not in_- the adorn of light's prism.
But staunching irreverence, a shadowed-stench where the light bends, grotesquely mishapened.
The Lord of the Flies-traps closes as if nothing happened.
Rainbows end.
Silent the guns and call your enemy
to say hello, as long as there is life in you
and empathy in mutual suffering by
the massacring virus invading us
like a shrewd salesman of death.
Senseless arms buildup and proxy wars
keep fuel on its fire burning us alive.
Its catastrophe knows no bounds and
we may well be receiving its first wave
like an unending tsunami intent on
submerging all, with no pity for our
piety, or romantic isolationism.
Let peace reign, like clear air, so we
marshal our energy toward the common foe
spreading its eagle wings of death like a
dark and venomous cloud.
Match its irreverence for life with
neighborly love.
Fight its undeclared war
with touch of humanity.
Repel its evil spirit
by planting the sapling soul of peace
in your heart.
Embrace universal truce so
we may all live through this dark carnival.
Folly
brought down a notch,
outrageous fortune foiled,
shot down by due irreverence,
humor.
He was just another foulmouthed saint
“halo” tilted jauntily to one side
wings tucked neatly into a dirt stained jacket
aura – lightly tinged with a sparkle of dust.
cussing – his milieu of mindfulness
spitting – his punctuation marks.
Yet they always sought him out
sat with him, tapped his endless time,
shook their heads in awe of his irreverence.
He said “that if the shadow you cast
isn’t longer that that of the church
you should find another church”.
Claims he read a book – ONCE
built a few colleges
never attended one.
He had a predatory edginess
patrolling, protecting, shepherding,
all who entered his domain.
His face absorbing the pain of his vision
watching the innocent betrayed
by sweet talking charlatans
he would occasionally straighten his halo
unfurl his rumpled wings
tell them to “F..k off!” – and spit!!
He was just another Foulmouthed Saint.
John G. Lawless
©5/30/2018
Related Poems