Long Belfast Poems

from island corner, big Antrim lad
  to Belfast city, a tiny pad
  shattered windows, tilted clocks
  Goliath had lost his socks
  gargantuan giant going mad

  Armagh apple girl, any topic
...

Read More

The Snowflake That Sank The Titanic

It all begins with a single snowflake
(Each one in itself is unique)
Brought about through evaporation,
And returned by the force of gravity
In the form of snow to the planet,
To rest on...

Read More

People anticipated, and waited for the day they could gaze upon my beauty, and that they did. The men adored me, the women admired me, and the children were in awe of me. 
Everyone loved...

Read More

Back when the strange appeared uncommon, 
I knew I was just beginning 
To scratch the surface of the truth.
So I got myself a shovel.

As I dug deeper, I discovered my scent so jaded
As to not...

Read More

Doesn't matter what my name is. Certain types of men do certain types of things. Like join a terrorist group coz they believe they're right. I've been inside with them.     ...

Read More

kaisers, kings, emperors fight for territory
  dispensable bodies left in the ground on foreign soil, unreturned
  militarisation of memory and folly
  an Irish nation half-wrenched from a bloodied and wearied empire
 ...

Read More

I saw one journey end and another begin
I saw my world changed and in a spin 

I saw another end - the end of the band
I saw John and Yoko hand in hand

I saw commandos...

Read More

Let me tell you a story . . . 

The RMS Titanic steamship was the largest 
and most magnificent ship in the world (at the time)
high as an 11 story building 
and long as 4...

Read More

The 
familiar 
sound 
of 
gunshots 
rings 
out 
in 
the 
dead 
of 
night,as 
a 
sniper 
takes 
position 
in 
the 
bushes 
outta 
sight,
Past 
my 
front 
door 
I 
hear 
the 
sound 
of 
many 
marching 
feet,as 
II 
Para 
make...

Read More

This is who I am
My name is Stanislaus J. O’Connor
Born on April 17th in Belfast, Ireland
Youngest of eight children
My father admired the Polish people
The way they fought 
During the last Great War
When the odds were...

Read More

An Irish lad
Of seven or so
Bears witness to the hate in his fathers eyes
As the British with guns walked on by
Never knew a soldier who wanted to die
Especially one not seeking battle
Ahhh but if eyes...

Read More

Built by Harland and Wolff in the shipyard's of Belfast
A luxurious giant ship that they built to last
An Olympic class liner of the White Star Line
No expense was spared; she was grand and so fine.

Southampton...

Read More

Back to Belfast

I have been to the Ghetto thrice
To Auschwitz twice
And to Belfast once
And to tell the truth
Belfast is the winner of the weirdest places 
Where I’ve ever been

But to be fair
That was just before...

Read More

Such an Eerie Sound to Be Heard


Continuation of "Farewell" October 2008.


The night has come upon us,
The fog is rolling in,
Crickets have stopped their chirping,
IT's coming to get us again.

The last time we were lucky,
We got...

Read More

SHOPPING IN BELFAST  (70s Style)

Hundreds of shuffling feet, herded like Cattle, through the big iron gates to the city Centre
Through to the freezing sheltered holding area with its grey block walls and long protruding...

Read More

The familiar sound of gunshots 
rings out in the dead of night,
As a sniper takes position in the 
bushes out of sight,
Past my front door I hear the 
sound of many marching feet,
As 2 Para...

Read More

The familiar sound of gunshots rings out in the dead of night,as a sniper takes position in the bushes out of sight,
Past my front door I hear the sound of many marching feet,as II Para...

Read More

I chanced to look upon the world, through current
Channels..And much unfurled; I noted the various
Decades passed, wars on terror legalising grass..'
Wars on waste, the slogans did run, my mind reeled
Them off one by one.' I...

Read More

   Built in a Belfast shipyard
 for Shaw Savill ‘n Albion Line.
   On her flagstaff wind ‘n lee
 flew the Southern Cross ensign,
   down a slipway to the sea
...

Read More

while she believed she was me
signing my name on personal injury
claims in fort lauderdale
I cradled my identity  i was every part

of america i was every part of germany while she 
believed she was me...

Read More

Collisions avalanche, beneath the icy
Waves, of the North Atlantic.
Birthed in the cradled of Belfast,
A maritime giant, became crimsoned,
By champions shattered tradition,
An ironic omen presence to come.
For she bares tragedy’s mark, the name
Given to this colossus,...

Read More

That evening
we took a flat-bottomed boat
and swam it up the Thames.
Douglas the middle-aged queer
served martinis out of a crystal pitcher.
Lurching for lips, he kissed me.
I was surprised how sweet it felt.
Jenny in a canvas chair,...

Read More

Carols


The old story
Revives in the dying year, when carols begin to play:
The familiar tunes open advent windows on scenes we know:
Stoic figures by the crib, and placid beasts in yellow hay:
No dung heap here –...

Read More

C’mon up the porch ‘n sit a spell.
Pull up a chayah ‘n give your dogs a rest.
Wanna beeyah (some call it beer)? Mountain Dew?
Lemme tell ya why I find Maine is the best.

Showah, we drop...

Read More

It was a brave decision
To leave the bar of my dreams
For something better
I'd been awoken

One night in Belfast
A few tick boxes weren't ticked
So on we moved
In search

Three songs in
To what can't be described
As my spiritual...

Read More