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Best Poems Written by Radical Rooney

Below are the all-time best Radical Rooney poems as chosen by PoetrySoup members

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The Train

Here I rest, a rusting hulk
Alone, aloof, within my bulk
The hiss of steam within my veins
The pistons pulling at the reins
Mere memories now of a loyal life
Now round my rivets rust is rife
No clank of coal, no whistle shout
No churning wheels, no water spout
Now rust flakes fast to line my grave
Where only leaves and litter pave
This epitaph to a faithful slave
And don't deny I served you well
Yet now condemned within my cell
Of rusted rails that bind me fast
Those guiding hands of days long past
When smells of grease and hissing steam
Echoed gleams and children's screams
As stones and steel rushed past my head
Now tears of rain make up this bed
A burial cloak for a servant laid
To rest and rust in romance dead

Copyright © Radical Rooney | Year Posted 2015



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With Water In My Eyes

WITH WATER IN MY EYES

I moved to town, and the people came
And stole from me

They took the brightness from my life
And the colour from my skies
They stole the pity from my eyes
And the fur from off my cat
They killed my pride and crippled my beliefs
Then buried my love, and planted seeds of lust

They used my body to poison my mind
And then they took my soul
And slowly crushed it dry
Now my skin grows thicker by the hour
My heart lies coated with envy
And I have learnt the power of hate

Now they own my body and my mind
Yet I feel so very strange
For my hungry hollow shell
That wanders home at night
Sometimes sees the stars
And I must lean against the wall

For I do not see so very well
With water in my eyes

Copyright © Radical Rooney | Year Posted 2015

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The Rose

THE  ROSE

Her heart with fragrant beauty shows
The womb her silken hands enclose
But curling fingers edged with gold
Must wither soon as they grow old
And as her petals curl with age
To gently fall like turning page
They will in memory oft repeat
To us a scent that lingers sweet

Copyright © Radical Rooney | Year Posted 2016

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Hiroshima

HIROSHIMA
I remember it well, that first day in Hell
             So long ago, I know

As the sirens sounded our Yankee foe
Decided that now his power we would know
So dropped his Atomic Bomb from the sky
That caused those below to melt and to fry
As we all saw the flash and then felt the blast
That blew infernos around us, to eerily cast
A different light on a different world
As blackened bodies lay unfurled
In corners and gutters, clinging together
Welded and wedded, where no man could sever

Yet skinless souls still shuffled by
In silent circles they would try
To see the sun, to see the sky

I remember it well, that first day in Hell
           So long ago, I know

When God let man his fate create
And genius fell to earth, as hate
As dependent on a compass whim
Determined how much blackened skin
Would flap around, about your heel
Or even how much pain you'd feel
As you dragged around your cloak of death
Blinded, deafened, sucking breath
Those with huge bloated heads just staggered around
Til their eyeballs popped out, to burst on the ground

The mushroom cloud now rose on high
As snow-like ashes fell to lie
On those below who searched the sky

I remember it well, that first day in hell
            So long ago, I know

I watched where tender lips did lie
To see dark holes vent silent cry
And the shape of a horse, that stood in the sun
To bask in God's warmth, 'til a hotter one
Burnt him so perfect, against a white wall
In an instant heat, that left no time to fall
I saw shadows on steps, where bodies had curled
As vapourized souls left their mark on this world
Now black dollops of rain fell out of the mist
From that curse'd sky, in one final twist

But the deaf and the blind who looked up to God
Found these cascades of rain naught but a fraud
For they fell with the splash of hot nuclear ash

I remember it well, that first day in Hell
                 So long ago, I know

Then we dug in the rubble, the debris to hurl
And managed to find a frail little girl
It dampened our glee, when she just couldn't see
But still managed to cry, thru one squid-like eye
Whose last look at life was facing  a sun
That once gave her birth, but then fell to earth
So feeling her pain on that lonely day
I stroked her long hair 'til I felt her sway
For it fell out in clumps, and really looked bad
And although she was blind, she felt really sad

Then some saviours arrived, with water and food
But victims of burns should not drink, if they could
So they gasped and gave up, and dropped where they stood

I remember it well, that first day in Hell
                So long ago, I know

This child that we found needed blood, so my friend
Decided to give as he neared the end
So he gave what he could, thou feeling so feeble
Couldn't stop bleeding, when they took out the needle
He had just drunk too much of that evil black rain
So we stood by in shame, as he gave up his pain
In the centre of town stood a fountain and pond
Thirsty circles clung there, 'til Death waved her wand
Now they sit in my mind, but at night circle round
Like those in the fire, who dug into the ground

The firestorm had started to eat up the air
Yet many stood still, for they just didn't care
But we panicked in fear, and ran here and ran there

I remember it well, that first day in Hell
               So long ago, I know

So we ran to the river but the river ran red
As thousands jumped in, as they burned and they bled
But they drowned in the scrum and ended up dead
As bodies and corpses to the surface were fed
Our nails and our teeth and our hair then fell out
While those in the fire screamed shout after shout
The day that huge plane dropped a gift with regret
A gift to remember, a gift to forget
When it placed Hell on Earth, and our City ceased
With a toast from the skies, and a boast from the beast


DEDICATED TO LITTLE TAEKAKO YOSHIMOTO, ONE OF 
THREE THOUSAND SCHOOLCHILDREN, WHO PERISHED,
THAT FIRST DAY IN HELL

Copyright © Radical Rooney | Year Posted 2015

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Huddle

While the acorn drops

The eagle sees, the deer hears

But the insect eats

Copyright © Radical Rooney | Year Posted 2015



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Poverty

POVERTY

Poverty stalks my dreams in the night
As he walks on the beach, 'tween tides of time
He shelters in shadows, away from the light
And thou I can't see him, he follows my line
And nothing I do will make him take flight

But as he circles, sheltered in shade
I wander along to his old Devil song
And hear him and fear him and feel so afraid
For I wonder to whom my soul will belong
As he lurches along the trail I have made

Dragging Demons for me, out the sack on his back
While I just need to sleep in dark dunes of sand
But he waits 'til I stagger to start his attack
Then seizes me tight in the grip of his hand
As the seams of my dreams all fade into black

So we wander along, shackled together
To shuffle the shore, at a slovenly pace
With Conscience in tow,whatever the weather
For she's in no hurry to finish the race
With a hold on my soul, her song is forever

But stumbling on stones thrown up by the sea
My nemesis Death is heading this way
He digs up old wounds, to hurl them at me
As stalking beneath a sky of slate grey
He callously casts them, with vigour and glee

Now I spot his companions, Illness and Fear
Who are lurking close by, just waiting to show
Their slow recognition, as we grow near
But now I do fear, they will deal me a blow
So I fight against Fate, to escape and get clear

But they come within reach, so we sit on the beach
In a hollow called Hope, where we celebrate Hate
A faithful old friend, who seems to be late
But the party has started, and will go on 'til dawn
When they all will decide, just to whom I belong.

Copyright © Radical Rooney | Year Posted 2015


Book: Shattered Sighs