And Still We Live

And still we live…
Despite the years, despite the days,
Wars, famine and the like
We never rest
We always strive
If we’re not busy dying,
We’re busy being alive
And now it’s Christmas
Which always tells a tale
of the year gone by:
No one remains static
It’s a time to cheer or cry
as we measure our status in numbers:
The number of cards (received and sent)
The number of presents (received and sent)
Of invitations to visit (received and sent)
The number at Christmas dinner:
Is it more or is it less?

Thomas Martin

http://www.thejournal.ie/chernobyl-children-arrive-in-ireland-1843650-Dec2014/

THOMAS MARTIN lives in Dublin. His writing has been featured in Piranha, Figments, The Weary Blues and Shot Glass Journal

THE MAN WITH THE CAP

There was a chap who wore a cap
It was on his head all day
I wonder if he took it off
When he knelt down to pray?

He wore it in the Summer
When the sun was beating down
He wore it on the farm
And he wore it in the town

And when appearing on TV
Campaigning for farmer’s rights
It still was sitting there
Despite the studio lights

And when he went to bed at night
Was it still atop his head?
And is it still sitting there
Now he’s in his coffin – dead?

Or will it be preserved
In memory of this chap
Who all throughout his adult life
Was rarely seen – without his cap?

-In Memoriam. Jackie Healy-Rae 1931-2014

http://www.thejournal.ie/jackie-healy-rae-dead-1817595-Dec2014/



© Thomas Martin

THOMAS MARTIN lives in Dublin. His writing has been featured in Piranha, Figments, The Weary Blues and Shot Glass Journal

The Ugly Man

He waddled on stage
A crooked creature of the night
Short and squat
As awkward as a frog
The ugly man with the  lovely song

He sang of love, and romance too
Of Madame George on Cypress Avenue
Of Californian nights and Mississippi blues
The ugly man with the lovely song

Rude and crude, in figure and in speech
Yet his music flowed like honey
As he always soared to reach the Astral Planes
Of longing and of love
The ugly man with the lovely song

Now he shares the stage
With the glitterati of the literati
Seeking his acceptance
In the pantheon of poetic greats
Does his belong there?
Only time will tell
For the ugly man with the lovely song.

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/van-morrison-lyric-theatre--music-review-9867050.html

THOMAS MARTIN lives in Dublin. His writing has been featured in Piranha, Figments, The Weary Blues and Shot Glass Journal.

'Job Done'

My Sistine is complete
My Mona Lisa smiles
I’m taking to the street
And walking all the miles
It takes to get to where
I can lay my head and pray
That all my troubles
Are behind me
And that’s where they will stay.

I’m climbing up this mountain
To reach the top to see
The vista of my future
Of what I am to be
After forty years of service
forty years of toil
My Sistine is complete
My Mona Lisa smiles.

© Thomas Martin

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/0702/627983-ruairi-quinn-labour-party/

Thomas Martin  lives in Dublin. His writing has been featured in Piranha, Figments, The Weary Blues and Shot Glass Journal.

So You Call This Poetry

So you call this poetry?
Words following words
In short, succinct sentences,
The language of the gutter
Interspersed with
Classical allusions and spiritual motifs
Sometimes rhyming, sometimes not.
Contrived metaphors, laboured similes,
Juxtapositions of incongruous concepts
Phrases broken between lines
Unfinished sentences
Disparate colloquialisms
Esoteric allusions
Fragments of street speech
Spliced with foreign quotations
Rhyme with no reason
Reason with no rhyme
So you call this poetry?

So do I.
© Thomas Martin

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2014/jun/01/jeremy-paxman-poets-engage-ordinary-people-forward-prize


Thomas Martin lives in Dublin. His writing has been featured in Piranha, Figments, The Weary Blues and Shot Glass Journal. 

       

Recession

They have us where they want us, lads:
Public against private
Waged against unwaged 
Generation against generation
Men against women
Urban against rural
National against immigrant
Frontline against rearguard
They have us where they want us.
And we have them -
In our sights. 

© Thomas Martin, 2013

Frontline alliance falls apart in pay split

Thomas Martin lives in Dublin. His poems have been featured in Poetry24, Shot Glass Journal and Nostrovia!. He is currently working on his first verse collection.

A Christmas Verse

It’s here again, this time of year
So here’s a verse
To wish good cheer
To those who know
and those who pray
and to those who don’t...
No matter what they say.

© Thomas Martin

White Christmas on the cards?

Thomas Martin lives in Dublin. His prose works have been featured in Piranha, Figments, The Evening Press and The Weary Blues. He is currently working on his first verse collection.

The Poet Came Down From the Mountain

The poet came down from the mountain
And took to the road
He peddled his wares from town to town
Just like the bards of old

'I’m short of a few bob,' he said
'And must return to my work station
My nest egg has been raided
While I was deep in contemplation.'

He was deep in contemplation
When the call came from the bank:
'You should know, your funds are low
There’s no surplus in the tank.'

The one he charged with his affairs
Had gone and let him down
And now he must return
To the commercial side of town

And so he gathered round him
Friends that he had known
To provide such sweet music
As would enhance his work in poem

The gigs were organised
The settings chosen wise
The venues were selected
According to their size

The risks were great
The rewards unsure
But hope was strong
And the faith was pure

'We’ll start off small
Build as we go
If the fans don’t want us
They’ll let us know

They’ll let us know
By staying away
Times are getting tough
They may not want to pay.'

But they toured the world and found
People still the same
They knew his songs, they sang along
They helped to spread his fame

From far and wide they came
To hear the poet lay down beats
His vocals were hypnotic
And the music was a treat.

The poet came down from the mountain
And took to the road
He delighted all his fans
And had his wealth restored.

© Thomas Martin

Leonard Cohen to play one-off UK concert

THOMAS lives in Dublin. His prose works have been featured in Piranha, Figments, The Evening Press and The Weary Blues. He is currently working on his first verse collection.