Paul O'Mahony

ThoughtForToday – 14 November

Je suis Paris

today there is nothing to do

but

stand in solidarity

with the people of Paris France

and

wish for peace

remembering

#wearehumans

#jesuischarlie

#JeSuisParis

“Islander” – poem by Paul O’Mahony

Chapter 1

He could have been on Sherkin, Inishbofin, Skelligs or even Rathlin…

He was an outlaw, cast away from the land,

away from his people.

His face didn’t fit,

his family were not from the right side of town.

There was no time for him, he could rot there.

Eventually his spirit would break,

he would comply, he would conform,

he would be broken

– or so they thought…

________________

It would teach them,

it would show them not to meddle with our family,

not to get above themselves.

Yea, 27 winters on Sherkin

27 springs on the Skelligs

27 summers on Rathlin

27 years of nightmares on any island you fancy.

It was good to keep him there, disappeared.

Our family had need of safety,

his family were dangerous,

thugs, revolutionaries, communists, rapists.

oh yea, uncouth, uncivilised, Untermenschen.

______________

Chapter 2

Our family is special,

we have survived our own wars.
We’re used to feeling superior

our family before all families

our tribe before all tribes
our village – the white man’s burden
Everyman is an island
We have not balked at blood sacrifice
We have buried our enemies in unmarked graves
– even displayed corpses to teach families how to behave themselves

We survived war against an Empire of superior force – that gave us backbone.
That gave us good enough reason to turn the tables on families of inferior beings.
Oh yes, our family is special – forever.

______________

Chapter 3

You will not leave that island

You will languish in your dreams

You will scratch your balls

You will scrape the fleas in your hair

You will freeze your bollocks off.

We will control you.

When we let you out – it will be to die.

Our family is ordained to carry the burden of ruling this land.

Yes, your family is bigger than our family

Your family’s so big it’s disgusting.

Your people are everywhere – but your people are worthless

– we’ve made sure of that.

________________

The sea the sea the sea

the waves the wind, the ocean, the cold

the fish the seaweed the waves the wind the cold the ocean

the seaweed the waves the wind the cold the ocean the seaweed
____________________

Eat your heart out Islandman – we have you.

Oh yes, we’ve had you now for 27 years.

How did you pull through?

_____________

Chapter 4

Are you coming off that island?

Are you coming to take our land from us?

Are coming to obliterate us, are you coming to wipe us out?

are you coming to leave a bloodbath?

are you going to come off the island

like an avenging angel – the Assyrian descending on the fold?

are you going to be the Inquisition?

are you going to be ethnically cleansing us?

are you going to force our children to leave?

are you gonna split up all that we’ve created among so many people and leave everybody with hardly anything?

Who are you?

who are you after?

who are you after festering anger resentment?

you must be a walking bomb

you must be a walking terrorist

you must be a killer of all of our dreams.

I see you now, we see you now, step ashore

______________

Chapter 5

I must say you look rather good after 27 years.

If I’d been there for 27 years I probably wouldn’t have stood up as well as you look

maybe your family has got some kind of metal in your DNA?

maybe you’re just bloody tough?

who are you Islander?

who are you warrior?

what’s in your mind?

what’s in that heart?

Why should we trust you?

the only thing we can trust is our own fear.

yes, we’re outnumbered

yes, your family is bitter.

What are those words forming in your mouth?

what’s that look in your eye?

what’s that breath from your nostril?

You’re walking towards us,

are you coming to wipe us out?

now your time has come

now every other bastard has abandoned our family

left us alone

left us isolated

left us rejected

Yea, we were at the forefront of fighting for what we believed in,

for what we thought others believed in.

yes we were the top dogs once,

Now,

yea we’re lepers

my family is spat on

my family is rejected

no one from my family can get married into any other family.

And you will inherit the earth.

I expect you’ll get revenge now

you’re coming

you’re coming across

you’re coming ashore, you’re coming inland.

What’s that you hold in your hand?

what are you doing with your hands?

towards whom are you

outstretching?

You don’t mean to offer me a hand

you cannot mean to stretch out a hand.

It’s a trick.

You want to persuade me you are a friend

come from 27 years of incarceration

on that …

on Sherkin, on Boffin, on Skelligs

You want me to believe that that’s a genuine hand?

as soon as you grip my hand you’ll pull me under

you’ll squash me to death.

I know,

that’s what I’d do if I was in your position.

You want my hand.

your hand is warm

your eye is warm

you are forming words

you are looking over my shoulder

beyond where I stand

you are looking beyond my family

You have brought a flag with you

a towel, a canopy, a rug,

something that will go over everybody.

You expect me to join you

you expect me to work with you

you expect me not to run and hide

you expect me to accept you

you expect me to be your partner

And you will not take everything from me?

you will leave me with my money intact?

you will leave me with my capital acquired?

you will leave me with some shred of self-respect?

God it feels like you’re offering me a route to Salvation
Where the hell have you come from?
where the hell did you become like this?

You stretch out a hand of friendship

a hand of warmth, a hand of the future

to my family.

You restrain your family from eating me alive

you restrain others from decimation

you prefer us to be together than all go down.

You are serious?

Islandman,

what kind of a resurrection is this?

what stones have you rolled back?

what cave have you come from?

what sort of Heaven on earth are you trying to create?

When you were on that island, and I was on the mainland,

you were a small guy.

you were locked up in a place where I didn’t have to see your eyes

where I didn’t have to feel your hand.

but now I cannot avoid you

I cannot ignore you

I cannot step away from you.

That island: Sherkin, Inishbofin, the Skelligs, Aran Islands, the Saltees, Lambay, Rathlin…

– they’re all our islands.

we’ve always used islands to lock inferior beings away out of sight.

now those islands have turned everything inside out,

have turned everything on its head.

I don’t know what to say

I don’t know where to look

I’ve embarrassed by your strength, by your courage

by your power

and you know what the worst thing is?

you’re so bloody humble

you are so bloody humble

you offer warmth, friendship

you offer togetherness

you offer hope

you offer a future

My children – they don’t have to die

my children – they don’t have to run

our children can play together.

Where have you come from?

What happened to you
on that island?

Is there any chance I can do 27 years on that same island?

_________________________

Chapter 6

The Unknown Unknown…

We are all the creators

all families creators

all individuals creators

Any chance we can all do 27 years on the island?

The end of the beginning.

_______________________

Note:
Written in honour of my hero Nelson Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)

ThoughtForToday – Friday 13 November

Superstitions are fun.

I hope

trust

barely believe.

Bless this day.

This is Bond : “Shaken Not Stirred”

I first met Mr Bond on Periscope & was lured into discovering his background & creative work.

Bernie’s story : Let Mr Bernie Bond’s voice introduce his story.

You hear our 007 reveal

how he got the name “Bernie”
his ancestors – the Aird family from the Black Isle on east coast of Scotland …
how his great great grandfather started a company that became prosperous during the industrial revolution …
the family story on his father’s side: moved from Scotland to London to Germany to settle in Austria
his parents were born in Austria …
how Bernie was inspired by his family’s background
Bernie’s love of 1960’s music … especially the Beatles
how he learned to play guitar & played in groups
how he wrote & recorded songs in his little home studio
Bernie the keen footballer – still plays today
how he earned his living playing in bands & was unemployed
the story of how he got a job in the travel industry as resort rep for 4 years in Austrian mountains
how his ability to speak German helped
how he joined a startup that became a market leader in UK
he now works there as contracts & commercial manager for UK tour operator
our 007 lives in Mittersill Austria
he lived in Bath in 1970s & years later uploaded all his songs on to Internet
his got into video & created videos to go with his songs
when he heard James Bond crew were filming “Spectre” in villages (where his parents come from) he made this short video, as a tribute to the villages
his biggest success was the song “Mittersill Forever” to which Bernie added music, harmony voice & video footage (7k views on Facebook + over 2k on You Tube).

________________________________

Our 007 Bond in action

________________________________

Note:

Huge thanks to Bernie Airds (@airdwaves on Twitter + PeriscopeTV on Bernie Airds on You Tube) for his generosity & collaboration.

ThoughtForToday – 12 November

Explore the socks off the world.

Dig deep into the core.

Forage in the forest of imagination.

There is more to be found

underground.

ThoughtForToday – 11 November

You can recover.

From upset,

disappointment,

damage,

injury,

loss,

fury,

fear,

habits,

hurt,

unkindness,

sloth,

attack,

depression,

shock

– anything.

So long as you keep breathing.

#JeSuisCharlie – poem by Paul O’Mahony

Je Suis Charlie

A few minutes was enough

a smattering of bullets

a cascade of hate

rained down

out of a cloud

loaded with purpose

ammunition

attrition

a mission.

Twelves apostles of humour

twelve souls of freedom

twelve bodies.

In the name of Abraham

and all the shared scars

like wounds from a bloody god

J’accuse

7 January 2015

ThoughtForToday – 10 November

Great experiences include

the smell of freshly cut grass,

the scent of newly baked bread,

rain on a window pane,

warm campfire,

human touch and much more …

Don’t forget good company.

“Sing the song of the flight to life” – new poem by Paul O’Mahony

Sing the song of the flight to life.

Carry your soul in your old kit bag.

Carry your city with every breath.

Carry your loves well packed in tissue.

Carry your fears in a solid box of take-on luggage

Because you will Passover

‘Cause you’ll write your Tablets,

set fire to your gods, cross your river of flowing gold

Because you’ll promise your self

a land of silk and funny dreams

Dreams of immortality

Dreams of eternality

Dreams of sick transfusions that delight your progeny

I am your flight attendant

listening in depth to your vulnerability

cheerleading you on,

throwing high the baton

while you compose your ode to joy.

And

sing your flight to live the life of the travelling warrior,

to explore the way of the choir of pilots who chart their soul’s journey beyond the beyond.

Come intrepid one.

Come board your flight

You are on time,

in good time to be uplifted

into the symphony I have sketched for you

and you will bring to be

the melody of a soulful life

___________________

Notes:

(1) This poem was inspired by AJ Leon, Melissa Leon & all misfits (plus all that love their mission to catalyse revolutionary change to our world).

(2) This poem was inspired by the songs of Walt Whitman & the great friends I’ve gained while live streaming “Leaves of Grass” via Periscope – saved on http://www.Katch.me/omaniblog

(3) A related poem is here

ThoughtForToday – 9 November

There are no original ideas

– only fresh ones

Appreciating others – Emerson to Whitman

If you can’t see the audioplayer below – Click here

ThoughtForToday – 7 November

[photo screen shot from a scope by Kate @suntrine1)

__________________________________

Those shoes you’re wearing are exotic.

That accent you have is exotic.

Your toothpaste exotic.

Discarded cigarette butts exotic.

Weeds exotic.

Hummingbirds exotic.

Prayers exotic.

Farts exotic.

Mona Lisa exotic.

Yourself exotic

– to someone

Charles Bukowski – “Magical Mystery Tour

If you can’t see the player below, click here

Magical mystery tour

I am in this low-slung sports car
painted a deep, rich yellow
driving under an Italian sun.
I have a British accent.
I’m wearing dark shades
an expensive silk shirt.
there’s no dirt under my
fingernails.
the radio plays Vivaldi
and there are two women with
me
one with raven hair
the other a blonde.
they have small breasts and
beautiful legs
and they laugh at everything I
say.

as we drive up a steep road
the blonde squeezes my leg
and nestles closer
while raven hair
leans across and nibbles my
ear.

we stop for lunch at a quaint
rustic inn.
there is more laughter
before lunch
during lunch and after
lunch.

after lunch we will have a
flat tire on the other side of
the mountain
and the blonde will change the
tire
while
raven hair
photographs me
lighting my pipe
leaning against a tree
the perfect background
perfectly at peace
with
sunlight
flowers
clouds
birds
everywhere.

Charles Bukowski

“Making love to my mother-in-law” – poem by Paul O’Mahony

you’re going to make love

to your mother-in-law

I have advice for you:

don’t do it on Christmas Day

with her husband

and

your wife

downstairs

in the kitchen

underneath…

(To be continued)

ThoughtForToday – 6 November

Slugs have a lousy reputation.

I’m sure they’re good for something.

We all feeling sluggish some days.

Without being unkind to slugs,

let today be “Abolish Sluggishness Day”.

Maybe “Postpone Sluggishness Day”

would be kinder.

Roger Overall – Cartooning – “the maker’s art”

Source: Roger Overall – Cartooning – “the maker’s art”

Roger Overall – Cartooning – “the maker’s art”

Welcome Roger Overall – my great friend & longtime collaborator. [I took the snaps on my iPhone6.]
Roger came to work in my kitchen & we recorded the audio while he did his best to start & complete a cartoon in 20 minutes. This is the story of the work. The phrase “the maker’s story” came up during our conversation.