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POETRY COLLECTION

MICHAEL O’DWYER

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Contents

The Witch of the Dark Tide – story poem

How a Fragile Heart makes a Dream disappear

- How a Fragile Heart Makes a Dream Disappear

- Into the Wild

- Poem for you out there

- Sharon sleeps

- New Dawn

For Those No More

- For Those No more (Memorial poem)

- Hiroshima Mon Amour

- Cold Cat

- The Greedy Who Died With Pennies in their Heads

Garden of Eden (poems from the screenplay)

- In the Furnace

- My Mother Dances to keep from Seeing

- Performance Persona

- Carnival

- Kitchen Waitress

The Winding Silence

- The Winding Silence

- The Future is Unwriting the Past

- Jackson Pollock Leaves His Body

- Blackbird Halt!

- Alice at Thirty-Three

all poems © Michael O’Dwyer

michaeod75@gmail.com

Michael is a screenwriter, photographer, and co-founder of

Driftwood Doll Films, a film company based in Dublin, Ireland.

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A story poem

The passing of children into adulthood through the experience of love and

heartbreak, hope and despair, is encapsulated in a horror fairytale, as the

innocent children make their first venture out of their Dreamland home and

into the horrors of the deep forest where the ultimate creature of hatred and

hopelessness is waiting for them.

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Chapters:

Dark Tide, the place we fear…

The Children of Dreamland…

The Witch of the Dark Tide…

Journey into the Dark…

The Witch Awakes...

Home to Dreamland…

The Witch’s Feast…

Search for the Lost…

Killing The Witch of the Dark Tide…

Dark Tide and Dreamland…

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THE WITCH OF THE DARK TIDE Dark Tide, the place we fear…..

In a forest deep

Black as soot

And dead as sleep

There is a place where broken hearts and lost hope goes

It is called Dark Tide.

It is not a place you would choose to go

If you had a choice, you would not go

In it lives, but barely lives,

A funeral parade of souls

All marching with downcast face

Trudging through the eternal waste

Pulling their feet up slowly like from their graves

Reborn to misery every day

There is no heart in what they do

Their hearts are gone, stolen, broken, icy blue

If your heart was crushed too many times

Then you might find the Dark Tide too

In Dark Tide there is something that lies waiting

With a purpose so sinister

Death anticipating.

Haunting there, The Queen of the Realm

The first to fall into that hell

Her soul gone black, her heart a shell,

Her face wrinkled from 100 lifetimes

The wretched Witch of the Dark Tide.

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In every generation gone,

She has robbed young lives of their spark and fire

She has bound them, and beat them, and eaten well,

And taken them from light, never to be seen again.

From innocent Dreamland now they come

To stir the tomb of the ancient one

Who doesn’t wake until she can scent

The sweat of young blood wandering hence

Stirring stirring more and more

They’re getting closer to her door.

They will scream when she will arise

And there will be some who won’t survive.

The Children of Dreamland…..

Dreamland was in the brightest part of the forest

Where the sun warmed the hearts of all

The food came aplenty as if from the sky

And it was never questioned how or why

In Dreamland lived children

Innocent and loving

Dancing and singing

Kissing and hugging.

There were rumours of a place where the blood runs cold

And all the people act wretched and old

But seeing is believing they always say

And the children had seen nothing but Dreamland May.

One among them stood out from the crush

Simon was a boy who loved too much

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This often gave the appearance of being down in the dumps

Alone he ran and held no hand

Being the unhappiest boy in this dreamland

He was not popular because of his ways

Misunderstood and misbehaved

Why he was so sad, he would not tell

His eyes shed enough tears for the deepest well

And they told his story when words were lack

He loved someone who didn’t love him back

There were many children who loved Dreamland

And would never dream of wandering out

Into the darkness of the hidden world

The forbidden city of lost souls, and Her

But curiosity gets the best of us

And wander some, wander all we must

Into the forest where our parents warned

Of terrible dangers and a beast hell-born

But we wouldn’t grow if we didn’t search

And we would go blind if we didn’t look

And if there is a Witch out there beyond

We’ll fight her with our love and youth and songs

Sarah and Edel took the lead

For the adventure in them was strong

Best of friends forever and a day

They skipped out into the trees fearing nothing and gay

Marcella followed in her own way

Carrying cake and biscuits and a sweet array

Then followed Neill, and Jay, and Jodie

And all the children of Dreamland seemingly

Even Simon came, straggling last

Pretending not to be part of the wandering cast

And soon Dreamland was empty

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For there were no parents where the children played

Dreamlands a place for the innocent heart

Innocent hearts that were gone this day

Looking forward to an adventure far away.

The Witch of The Dark Tide…..

What made the creature of this Dark Tide?

And why kill or maim or try?

Well many years and generations past,

a girl from Dreamland lived so sad

Like Simon now she pined and bled

For someone she loved who’d rather she were dead

A million times she ran to him

And said I love you

But the world even in Dreamland can be cruel

And he looked down on her as if on a fool

She took her heart in her hands and went in despair

To every child in that golden lair

She said take this heart

I ask, implore,

I can’t live with it no more.

But even in her worst despair

She could not find someone who cared

They laughed and told her make a grave

And put your worthless heart away.

The Dreamland girl turned slowly from those

Who would not listen and would not love

The sun that shone all day in that place

Moved on its axis so it missed her face

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In darkness now, she felt the cold

And wanting nothing but to be alone

Into the trees she ran until there wasn’t a sound

Her lungs burning, gave out, and she fell down

She looked around her and could not believe

It was the darkest place she’d ever seen

The trees slanted down as if dying

And a river ran thick as if filled with mud

Her first thought was to gather her strength

And head back home

But there was love’s hateful red eye

For everything Dreamland was in her mind

She said no, this is my home,

Underneath dying trees and by this Dark Tide.

She gave up her soul that very day

And buried her heart like they said

She locked away all hope and love

And made one wish- let those children come

I’d kill and eat them one and all

And crush their bones into a ball

Let them come, yes, let them come

I’ll live forever, eternal enemy of the young.

So The Witch of the Dark Tide was born

No, not of hell, but love scorned

But hell could have given no greater foe

To a child in the forest who does not know

The dangers of love and the pain of woe

And as the child wanders towards the dying trees

And accidentally wakes love’s disease

Innocence will flow from his veins

As if from a wound slashed open in the rain.

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The Beast is waking and she cries

"You came to my house, you cannot hide

I will tear the flesh from your side

I will show you hell before you die

I am The Witch of the Dark Tide."

Journey into the Dark…..

The children rested in the forest,

They had not come far, but were tired regardless

Marcella shared out her sweets

Sarah sat and blew on her feet

Edel lay back and felt the breeze

Jodie went and climbed a tree

And Jay played guessing games with Neill

Simon for once smiled happily.

There were others I should tell

Vicky with ruby hair and emerald eyes

Darragh with his mouth of constant surprise

Jade with her songs and book of rhymes

All now rested and ready to go

Off to where they do not know.

But deep into the forest they went

Led by Vicky, Sarah, and Edel.

Soon they were in a place so dark

The trees seemed like shadows

And the leaves like dark spotted birds

The place truly was the opposite of everything they knew

The wind howled like a scream of pain

Beneath the dark curtain of the canopies

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And the sky could not be seen

The air too grim to breathe

Marcella walked to where she heard

A watery sound chugging down

And came to that sludging mass

That seemed to bubble up from underground

Marcella reached down into the sludge

And drew her hand away covered in blood

Vicky screamed and covered her face

To dispel the vision of this horrible place.

Jodie spoke of a tale she once heard

About a woman who lived so sad

Sitting near the highest mountaintop

She ran her blood out every night

And made a river from her side

She couldn’t face the world of lies

But had to prove she was still alive

As long as the river flowed red at night

That would be her beacon light.

Sarah was curious and wanted to know

Why a girl would make her home

Upon a mountain so high, alone

No-one could answer

Their silence spoke wonders

For the innocent hearts whom this dark way had wandered.

Who would follow the river up?

And bathe in the lone girl’s crying blood

Only a prince or a madman’s love.

Should they move on or should they stay?

With the day growing blacker

By the Dark Flowing River

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That seemed to move at a dreadful crawl

They looked each other up and down

And waited for one to decide for all.

Simon spoke and said we stay

Here beneath the trees that say

Rest in my house and I will shelter you

And let the Dark Tide balance and guide you.

So they made their beds and snuggled tight

And hoped to be safe ‘til morning light.

For they did not know what was lurking there

That doomish fountain of despair.

The Witch Awakes…...

There was a frost to be seen in the blue morning light

But the children still had their eyes shut tight.

Jay and Jodie’s noses twitched, as they slept close enough to kiss

Marcella and Neill’s arms wrapped warm

Bodies pulled close like Siamese born.

Edel slept curled as if in a womb

Simon’s arms crossed as if in a tomb

Darragh and Sarah and Vicky

Slept higgledy-piggledy.

The others slept as best they could

All hidden from view in their coats and hoods.

But suddenly stirring, a waking hand

About to crash and shake the land.

It came in whispers first of all

Simon dreamed he dreamt that quiet call

But it could be heard around that place

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Listen now to the voice but see no face

“Into the torment, into the flames,

I take your lives and I erase your names”

Was it in the wind or spoken by the trees?

The children’s eyes were open, was this real?

They held even tighter than when they slept

Afraid to even take a breath.

They listened for that call again

And thanked their stars they had their friends.

The voice, the voice,

So sharp and clear

Hope against hope nothing appears

“Into the torment, into the flames,

I take your lives and I erase your names”

The Witch roars

All the children among the trees cower beneath their own breath and fears.

She is awake. She is coming now.

Her screams fuel the fires that grow

And hate is she from head to toe.

Her eyes roll in her head with pain and fury.

As she storms her way to her innocent enemies.

They make no sound and pray for mercy,

And for Dreamland beds and games and parties.

But she senses them in the air.

Every movement shakes her dry bones,

Her wicked divining finger,

She could be the Devils huntress,

Birding.. poaching..

Seeking young bloody hearts in her labyrinthine wood.

There is no place to hide,

She is here.

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The children scatter and run in terror.

Brother forgets sister and sister forgets brother.

But there is no escape because this is home

To evil incarnate, hope dethroned.

How do you defeat a fountain of despair?

They are cruel and they don’t care.

Jodie was first to be caught by the Witch

She fell hard and sunk into a ditch.

The Witch climbed down and dragged her out

Wiped the blood from her hands and mud from her mouth

The Witch asked "Why do you come to this place?

Dreamland is yours. Have you all gone insane?"

But Jodie could not answer for fear

She looked at the face that was so old like a mirror.

All she felt was a deadly hum

And threw herself down dead so she wouldn’t become

Like the face of The Witch that was a mirror to her

The future of the broken, the end of the world.

The Witch laughed and it shook the trees

And every child choked and fell to their knees.

The Witch went around them one by one

And whispered despair in each ear like a gun

Some fainted away there on the spot

Because they believed every word and it tied them in knots

Their love was not strong enough to fight the Witch

Their dreams unraveled at the first pull like a stitch.

Happy with her day, The Witch went away

The children crawled to where light seemed to break

Downcast faces, they didn’t speak

So not to relive the horror of being so weak

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On out of Dark Tide they left with groans

Not looking back to The Witch’s home.

On through the forest with legs giving out

Not counting the cost of their awful rout.

Once back in Dreamland they seemed to say

That’s where we’ll be ourselves again.

Home to Dreamland…..

The forest paths on which the children had played

Were deep in mud from an endless rain

As they made their sorry way

To where the trees were young and straight.

There was no voice for what was on their minds

But you can tell the soul from its eyes

Devastation at what they had faced

The real world’s nature, a bitter hate,

Was this what they would become?

An evil creature bereft of love

Living out a hollowed hell

Killing all, without hope or sun

Suddenly the silence grew too much

Vicky turned to Simon and said

How many were we before we came?

How many now leave in shame?

Simon who had not looked before

To see who had fallen at the Witch’s door

Turned and counted those they’d lost.

6 we are now, many more were gone,

But as they tried to remember them all

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A terrible blankness came over each face

And memories failed to remember a name.

Who did we once play with so gay?

Before they were all taken away

By the real world’s empty pitiful shame.

But there was not a trace left of them

Not even a name.

Their souls had passed and left no remains.

It was night before they saw Dreamland ahead,

Their shelter from the world, and their safe beds.

The ragged bunch quickened their step.

But just inside Dreamland, Simon stopped.

A thousand stars lit the sky, maybe more

And not one of them had seen a star before.

In every soul, as though they were one

A feeling of want and pain had begun.

Dreamland is not the thing it was,

The Shining Stars had given pause.

A wistfulness swept away the day,

A sad nostalgia for a once perfect place.

And as shivers set in, they went home

And remembered things the Witch had croaked

Marcella was told her dreams were nothing

But her dreams were stronger than one hard voice.

Vicky was told she would never truly be loved

But Vicky felt love in herself enough.

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Simon was teased about the girl he loved.

The Witch said

You’re just like me when I had that killing hope

You’re best giving up what will never come

So Simon looking deep in the Witch's Eye

Saw not a trace of a loving girl inside

Clung hard and fast to the hope of his life

The children of Dreamland fell to deep sleep

And maybe beautiful things will return in dreams.

The Witch’s Feast…..

There is a song for every celebration,

And The Witch of Dark Tide had many.

In the open she swayed to the gentle movement of the night breeze

And sang quietly under her dying trees.

“Love is the greatest sickness of all,

It tears you down from your throne

And it makes you small.

Love is a disease to kill us all,

It rapes you and hates you

And it makes your flesh crawl”

After the song had echoed away in the winds

The Witch walked to her feasting table

She took the scent of her feast,

And tasted the reward of her murderous feats.

She picked up the body of one of her victims

A child no more, just a wracked remain.

She cracked the carcass over her cup

And when it was blood-full, drank every drop.

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She ripped at the bones with her gnarled teeth,

Devouring with bloody relish, all the meat.

But as horrible as this was to see

A far worse sight was within 10 feet

By the Dark Tide, placed round a tree,

The Children’s heads sat peacefully.

There was Edel, and Darragh, and little Jodie.

The World of Beauty they’d feel no more,

Nor give their hearts up in love.

The Witch looked over as she ate their bones,

And laughed so loud, it shook the World.

Even in Dreamland, they felt the thunder.

Stirring in their beds and curling tighter.

Gorged with blood, The Witch danced manically

Tearing at the trees and stamping holes into the ground

She juggled with the children’s heads

And dived into her Dark flowing river.

Bathed in blood inside and out

She screamed to the sky and it shot lightning back.

She crawled to the bank and lay there in bliss

And never dreamt what it would be like to kiss

Someone she loved right there.

The Witch was a creature of utter despair.

She chanted another rhyme

“Bring those children back to me

I’ll convince them this world’s not worth a jellybean

Bring those innocent dreams back to me

I’ll kill their every hope and drown their belief

I have not failed because some survive

All will be my slaves in time”

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I remember when I carried my heart so desperately

To the one I loved, they threw it at me.

That day I vowed that love did not exist

And any hope of love was a tortured kiss.

And I set myself the task

Of freeing poor hearts

From the delusion and the dream

That what they feel inside could ever be real.

So my way is reality

Because I free you all from love’s insanity.

The Witch fell into a deep gorged sleep

And slipped down into the Dark Tide.

She would be back when she heard the children of Dreamland’s cries.

Search for the Lost…..

Vicky stood firm in front of Simon and Sarah

And made her case for a return to horror.

"Did you actually see one of us die?

You did not and nor did I.

We must go back if they’re still alive

And save them from the evil eye.

You must come with me

No time to waste

It will prove our love

To enter that dreadful place.

That Witch out there thinks she has won

And will fall stone dead when an army comes."

Neill spoke to the upset children.

"We can’t go back, she’s too strong now.

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A whisper from her and we cannot move

A flick of her finger and our heads we lose."

Marcella said quietly "we have no choice

Dreamland has lost its airy voice

There’s but one chance to redeem what’s lost

It’s to fight the witch no matter the cost."

Jay said "I’m missing a part of me,

And Marcella’s right,

Dreamland’s not what it used to be.

Something was stolen from deep within us,

Something I can’t place,

But I feel a loss.

A picture of someone in the back of my mind,

My twin, my angel, loving and kind.

Last night I dreamt she sang to me

From deep in the forest, a lament so real.

If there’s the slightest chance she’s still alive

I must go back to the Dark Tide."

In a circle they placed their hands

And made a vow as the army of Dreamland

With love screaming in their hearts

They would go back to Dark Tide

And tear that hateful Witch apart.

They strode purposefully into the deep woods once more,

Their belief as hammers to knock on the Witch’s door,

6 of them there were.

Simon held Vicky

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Marcella pushed Neill

Sarah and Jay held hands all the way.

The forest quickly grew darker

And it was still midday

Cast in an ash-fallen grey,

The place seemed to say

You’re uninvited except to make your grave.

Doubts grew like weeds out of the ground and into the children’s hearts

“Why didn’t we fight yesterday, if there was a way?”

“The Witch has the magic of so many years.

What can we do if we don’t know anything of the world, and she has

lived so long?”

The children thought hard about carrying on.

Marcella remembered the words of her father

He had once said to her

"We have the bombs to annihilate the world

And we’re not even scared anymore."

She never knew what it meant ‘til then

To feel a pain so great it overwhelmed the fear

Death and nothing better than no love here.

Love was what had to be saved

And it was held captive in Dark Tide’s grave.

A light blazed bright across the sky,

And memories stirred in the children’s minds

Jay saw his twin Jodie singing her song

Simon remembered falling from a tree with Darragh

And Sarah remembered burying Edel in a mountain of flowers.

They were all a part of each other

And nothing would ever break that bond

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Not life or death or what’s beyond

Dark Tide waits for a true love song.

They went on and heard the now familiar sound

The sludging river, bleeding like a fatal wound.

They stood beneath the half-fallen trees

And waited for their foe to appear

This she did with a howl and scream

The children fell and covered their ears.

She snarled at the pathetic weakling children

“Returning here to me is insane, and there’s only one

Explanation for insanity. Love’s to blame”

The Witch seemed 10 times as powerful as she was

Gorged, well-fed, with colossal strength.

She picked the children up with one long grizzly finger each

And threw them up into the highest branches of her trees

“There you’ll wait until tomorrow

Then I will come for you and give you such sorrow

You’ll want to die and join my horror”

The Witch roared into the trees

The most deafening sound ever heard

And burst the ear drums of every child and bird

She disappeared and left the children

In a new world of silent dread.

They could not see each other,

And could not make their way down,

So they were shut in themselves with only their own thoughts

Each to his own dark night of the soul.

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Killing The Witch of The Dark Tide…..

The Witch did not return ‘til the next morning

The children had not slept a wink

But they saw the far-off sun rising

From their branches high, and crying,

Looked in the direction of Dreamland

But it seemed further away than the sun.

The witch stirred a pot and set a table

Just like in all the made-up fables

She smiled up at her meal

She’d pick her food from the trees.

As the pot began to bubble

The Witch picked down her first child.

She clicked her fingers and sound returned

To every child in her Dark Tide world.

The Witch looked deep in Jay’s eyes,

And said “what do you see when you dream out your life?”

Jay thought hard and had only one dream

“I want to run and play with my Jodie”

“She is with me now”, said the Witch

“And she’s happier than she’s ever been.

Why don’t you come and see for yourself,

Or you’ll never ever see her again.”

"But I thought she was dead.

I heard her singing that the Witch would kill her.”

“I wouldn’t harm a hair on her head.

Her head is safe in my house by my bed”

Jay had nothing without his twin Jodie,

And nothing would keep him alive this morning.

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Vicky was taken down next

And many arguments were made back and forth

Vicky wanted to show the whole world her love

But the Witch told stories of the world

That a child should never hear.

And as soon as Vicky’s faith slipped just that little bit

That was enough to be killed by so powerful a Witch.

There seemed no hope left in the world

Soon all the innocents would be gone

Sarah and Neill just faded away

With not a fight or a word to say.

Marcella was different, she argued and raged

And stabbed with her all at ridiculous hate

But when the Witch spots a weakness,

She doesn’t wait.

And when asked "What good could become of love

If you were the only one left in the world?"

Marcella fell quiet and cried

And gave up her life to the merciless Dark Tide.

The Witch sitting pleased with herself

Decided to feast on the children she had destroyed

Fully aware that there was one

Still in the trees, watching her fun

As she crunched on a bone, she spoke

“Simon, you’re just like me

Love has brought you to your knees

It’s time to give up what cannot be

The Dark Tide is all we’ll ever please”

Simon held tight against the tree

And a tear fell down at the Witch’s feet

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Like a first drop of rain in a thunderstorm

You hold your breath and wait for more.

But with a crash, the only thing that came down

Was Simon’s body to the ground.

The Witch jumped with fright

And looked amazed at the sight

Simon did not die.

The curious Witch came to him.

“Leave the killing to me if you please”

But Simon laughed quietly and rose from his knees.

The Witch said with a strange kind of glee,

“Do you think you’re stronger than me?

I have seen things that you couldn’t dream”

Simon spoke as if not a child anymore

“I could dream things and make them all real.

You cannot kill me because I am those dreams”

What Simon said rattled her bones,

But the Witch was ready to trawl him through woes

“What if your dreams are so strong they make

Everyone hate you for the passion they wake?”

Simon was happy and said,

“Passion I have and passion I owe,

But my wild heart sings with a gentle soul.

If everyone sleeps, they’ll never be free,

Because dreaming in sleep is not living your dreams”

The Witch knew she’d met a true enemy

And in him saw love that she truly could feel

She saw her girlhood that withered away

In the eyes of one who loved so complete

She even felt danger for this full heart

For a heart that is full has a bloodier death.

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Simon noticed a change in the Witch

Just a slight glimpse, a flash you could miss,

The eyes that were so cold and stared

Now showed a longing for something not there.

For that brief second the Witch's power was gone

And Simon reached down for a weapon and then

He thrust what he found into her heart

Her heart that was ready to be torn apart

The Witch howled and called for the sky to open

Blood rained down and soon she was floating

Out into the Dark Tide,

Her lifetimes done

Her wicked heart severed by a child’s leg bone.

Dark Tide and Dreamland…..

The blood rain fell for many days

And every tree in Dark Tide was washed away

Every object the witch had owned

Was taken away in that bloody storm

Simon mourned all the children in silence

And wondered if his love was now just worthless

Maybe it was better to go with the Witch

Be with his friends and try not to bitch

About all the dreams that he gave away

And the burning love that was really just pain.

When the rain had stopped, he got to his feet

And turned in the direction of the Land of Dreams

He thought long and hard about what he’d find there

And if he was alone, did he have a prayer?

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He set off for Dreamland because it was home

And because it held dreams, and all his hope,

The walk was more beautiful than he could have imagined

The sun making colours the like of Heaven.

Every breath drew new tears

As he gazed in wonder

At every inch of glorious nature.

Heart dying a little that no-one shared it

And all of this beauty was just his.

But Dreamland appeared as if from a haze

More golden, more stunning, and he fell amazed.

And what was this vision tending some flowers

A girl in flowing yellow, smiling and proud.

She turned slowly and saw her prince at the gate

And ran and jumped on him with all her weight

They kissed for a second, no need for dreams

Love’s fated arms fill the world with screams.

What was the name of this girl who grew

almost like a flower out of the blue?

See in her eyes all the world’s love

And a hundred lifetimes of pain gone to dust.

THE END

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HOW A FRAGILE HEART MAKES A DREAM DISAPPEAR by michael o’dwyer

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How a fragile heart makes a dream disappear

She dreamt of him last night,

Her smile, in deep sleep,

Becoming a radiant light, shimmering like the whiteness of morning.

She saw herself dashing through streets splashed with gold,

Her heart fixed on that Saturday shop of hers

And that perfect dress she meant to buy so many times,

But only now had a reason to.

She inhabited her dream completely.

Feeling her heart pounding hard in its flight for him

Until she reached her first destination.

The dress filled her gaze.

The whole beauty of nature charmed

Onto a few square feet of material.

Once within it,

She could give the Earth in all its finery

As a present to him.

Her heart swelled out,

Nurtured by every fibre.

She set off, back to his hotel,

The dress like wings,

Allowing her to swoop and glide to the door.

In the elevator,

All the numbers he told her poured out of her mind.

She hit a button, and hoped something would make sense

Once the doors opened again.

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But no, suddenly the world was a desperate scramble,

With nothing and no-one in it.

Numbers in all their million combinations

Tumbled over each other as she forced them back into her mind.

And her heart raged like a mountain river after a storm,

That all the corridors were empty and still,

Like a too perfect painting of themselves.

All she could do was stare at their hypnotic sameness,

Stare ahead at nothing,

Eventually looking down at the dress that had no-one in it,

The fragile heart waking to a dull grey morning.

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Into the Wild

You ate the wrong thing

Or spoke the wrong word

Dreamed the wrong dream

And let it own your sleeping night.

By turns bundled into a shiver

Or glubbing into a hot jelly

The tent of human contact protecting nothing

You journey into the wild.

There, you can’t say the wrong thing

Because only your own mind is listening

And it knows your ways too well

To be surprised.

Weighted down with rocks,

Even your dream mind wants to sleep now

So it sends you out to gather food for its imagination

While it sleeps, and you shudder awake.

32

Poem for you out there

I guess you disappear..

taking all that love..

drowning all that despair..

and filling your heart’s need

I strolled a sun blasted road..

passing young trees still aimed skyward..

and I felt alive, though missing a good part of me..

she once was here I breathed out slowly

I dreamed of you last night..

noticing but not noticing me..

you were calm like the breezeless sea..

don’t worry you said..

and I felt good until I woke

Sharon sleeps

Sharon sleeps like a city

Her body fumes beneath the concrete of her dream

Her dream has frightened the dawn gulls into silence

and nothing returns to how it was

until she wakes

Last night, in the arms of a rejecting stranger

she devised this dream to undo mortality

and sleep him away

The cities gulls are pacing before you

and nothing flies this dawn but a rejected stranger.

33

New Dawn

Our strange kid walks the clouds,

perches on lamplight,

and erases the colour of dawn.

It is stone grey now.

I took one photo last night,

an empty wine glass on a wall.

stars spread through it like lives

drained of hope and forgotten forever.

The bus steams through the morning air

as if we are above the skyline,

and nothing points our way in these dreams.

I kiss Meadhbh in my thoughts

and a cotton white blanket pulls over

the fields we escape to.

Telephone wires sprung like nerves across everything,

An extraordinary connection.

Here we are at the world's dawn,

the cold embrace ready to fling humanity

out of dreams into real life.

The clocks begin,

never to be stopped

until our lives snap the branch we cling to.

34

And we start counting-

times and monies,

counting on enemies and friends,

counting paces forward and back,

and counting on going the right way.

I'm going home with a drawing and a mini-bottle,

Venus in Furs playing,

and the world which has suffered enough

tuned into dreamlife.

35

FOR THOSE NO MORE by michael o’dwyer

36

For Those No More…

(memorial poem)

The shards of you lie around me.

You are broken and laughing,

And you've turned me into a stone statue of myself,

Staring down unmoved into the tears beneath me.

The lake of tears below are other people's.

They come to worship the icon of sorrow that I am,

And cry for their own broken hearts.

My stone cold lips won't move to give comfort

I have no loving gesture to be understood now.

Why have you done this joke on me?

The memory of your living laughter turns piercing,

Like birdscreams in the dawn sky.

A mourning soul stares into me,

Taking me for griefstricken royalty.

For my eyes you sculpted dark and unforgiving.

But I want to show them I forgive everything.

This mourning soul

Made of stone, is young.

And though death has stopped me in my tracks,

I will live anew today, tomorrow, and the next,

The stone you made of me will shard and fall,

I’ll love, live, and die, for those no more.

37

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Glistening Lovers

Denying the inequality of their love

Coiling their bodies

Toward the Heavens

And falling to Earth in Ashes

Now nothing.

Hiroshima Mon Amour

Cold Cat

Everything was freezing up – The words

Were words were words and nothing.

I wasn’t sure if I was choking on the

Words outside me or the nothing

Within me. This is what school does.

Pipes creaking, Tables icing over,

Everything freezing.

It takes a cold cat to creep through.

38

The Greedy who died with pennies in their heads

Money is the folly of the world,

But money means your freedom, and the girl.

Money is the stupid way you jingle when you walk,

But money lights your voice so brightly when you talk.

If money came raining down from the sky,

The Greedy would get pennies in their heads and die.

We could stay inside.

If money was an inky ocean in which you couldn’t drown,

The poor dreamers would swim forever,

And wouldn’t get to spend a pound.

Money turns suicide into a gambling sport,

Turning lives on their heads,

Like new evidence in court.

If money came raining down from the sky,

The Greedy would get pennies in their heads and die.

We could stay inside.

But money saves the soul from a tragic waste.

Because poverty is just misery,

Thought of as the soul in a mistaken identity case.

39

GARDEN OF EDEN

(poems from the screenplay) by michael o’dwyer

from the character of Anne Lees

40

-- In the furnace --

I pick out my ripped clothes from the furnace,

I get home and look my other self in the mirror,

thinking only what bruises I need

to hide from my mother.

5 days later, I’m still wondering about you Simon.

Feeling sorry for you? That you’re so lowly

you had to rip me up like a cereal box.

I took my rape clothes from their box above my bed today

and placed them in the garden bin. I dug some soil

and shovelled it on top.

I don’t want to be recognised from these clothes.

They are not what I am. I took them from the furnace,

And put them in the dirt.

Tomorrow I’ll rest easier,

and buy something I’ve never worn before.

41

-- My mother dances to keep from seeing --

You push me out, a rotten boat onto choppy seas.

Out there, to see life as it is lived.

You push me out, an angel gone black out your door.

I sit arms crossed in the garden,

until you see me for the stubborn child I am.

I love everyone because it stops the bleeding.

My mother dances to keep from seeing.

You can push me out, but your imprint is on me.

Because I am still the dream you cling to.

I fuck everyone to stop the bleeding.

My mother dances to keep from seeing.

42

-- Performance Persona --

5, telling tales,

dancing the childhood jig with cardboard whales,

A spotlight moon looking down with smiles

on the unfettered stage of the child.

15, in my diary it says I haunt everywhere I go,

like I’m Nosferatu,

or the wild beast in your deep forest nightmare.

Love and fear has made my heart shred its protective shell.

A performance is being able

to put one foot in front of the other,

and say hello when you say hello.

30, I started timid and broke my spine over the first line.

Jess, you said “Make your heart your persona.”

The fierce gap between what you are

and what you can show now gone.

So I painted my face

and wound barbed wire tight to my ribs,

I danced freer than I ever had,

I tripped without care over every word I set on fire,

and the scream I was looking for was right there.

43

-- Carnival --

You come in after work - I have your dinner on the table –

laced with the love I felt when you first took me in your arms to kiss me –

you eat it down too quickly and complain that it's dry.

The next night we go to the carnival with the kids –

Tilda is a jumping joybox to your arms –

I carry Scarlett as if she is a boulder in mine-

wishing I could let her drop but I know that would break me too.

On the Saturday, my mother took the kids for the day

so me and you, Peter could have a romantic break –

see if we could recover how we felt when our love was brave,

and not a cowardly charade –

you said some stupid things, I went insane - we failed.

Now I lie in my prison cell –

examining the scar on my hand from the knife I delved into you –

feeling the multi-coloured bruise lump on my thigh from Tilda's kick

as I smothered her –

nursing the relieved ache in my back from the boulder I finally smashed.

44

-- Kitchen Waitress --

In the deep rapacious heart of Peter’s lost wife,

A head of steam built until the blood boiled

And fried in her veins.

From the temple vein that showed through

Her over-white skin,

To the dividing river that were the veins in her feet,

She seemed cooked right through.

She took a cold bath that lasted hours,

Before at dinnertime, feeling the last of her energy

Pulse out like a dying battery,

She climbed onto the kitchen table,

Dressed herself with a spicy salad,

And offered to be eaten.

Peter and the children looked at each other

Without saying a word,

Anne, lying on the table with her eyes closed,

Pushed a carving knife into her husband’s hand,

Which he quickly used to remove her head,

So they wouldn’t be reminded of her

While they ate the rest

45

THE WINDING SILENCE by michael o’dwyer

46

The Winding Silence

Every part of you lays down

From the winding silence of his heart that lies

And you can hear the ticking clock now behind his smiles

Tell all, tell all, while you still have this second of his time.

Fall into the hole you carried in your chest to your bed

And don’t climb back out for a while no matter how hard the sun shines

He will be there, your golden boy, in those harrowing rays

Lay the curse on everything he will say to forgive himself, while he lets you die.

I’ve grown tired of the wind’s chimes

I’ve grown tired of the sun rise

I’ve grown tired of my own smile

I’ve grown tired of the same highs

Every part of you lays down to weather the storm

Your thundering heart finds no escape in the world

As you see the dream planes make their way across

You fade into sleep and take your loss.

47

The Future is Unwriting the Past

The future is unwriting the past

Puncturing those storm clouds like balloons

To show the craning sun

Your hand dashes the page with hearts

When the writing is done

Your mind then stares into the hollow of them

Like the villain of your peace

Remembering only the worst

But now you quickly colour them red and full

Overflowing the lines every one

Because the future has hold of you

Jackson Pollock leaves his Body

If love is the fist of a knot in your chest

Then art must be the same in your head

No good to let the knot unwind

Only to die.

That man who stretches every sinew over the canvas

Uses his flesh and blood only to rouse his soul

Action is vital, Dull sickness behind

Jackson Pollock left his body every time.

48

Blackbird halt!

Blackbird halt!

Know you the way?

I’ve been swaying from toe to heel all day

Blackbird wait!

Know you the signs?

The muddle has cuddled my blanket soft mind

Blackbird please!

Know me for a friend

Each road that I’ve gone down never did end

Blackbird speak!

Know you my house?

I'm sure I’ve seen you squawking about

"Stranger, no.. Don't bother me so.

I can't tell you the way

Back to your home

Have you heard of a bird

Who follows the road?"

"Stranger, go.. I want to be alone.

Can't you tell this black garb

is for trouble in my soul?

Why right here is the spot for my brother I mourn

He came for the worm, by the wheels he was torn"

Blackbird peace!

Know you my sorrow.

For my love overtook on a road as narrow.

49

"Well, Stranger, come. The sun starts to fall

Follow me quick if you follow at all

For I'll take the sky to the red cottage wall"

Blackbird, saved!

That is where I'm lost from this day

I'll run fast as your wings and not feel my pain.

And by the world's good grace

We'll outpace the rain.

50

Alice at thirty-three

I somehow thought I would fall into a hole this day

The calendar says “Alice, you’re thirty-three--

--If you made it back to your feet”

I did, love, I did.

But I wonder aloud on my bus into town

Am I still just to be a collector of things

From the mad hattress

To the dead hearts on my string

Speaking silently into the eyes of a sensitive man

I say I’m waiting for the perfect arrow to shudder and collect ME

I thought there was nothing you could hold of time floating by

But today the lake of saved and missing time has come down

In a river of greenest tea for my gift of china cups

And as I sup, I hold my fine china cupcake

Sculpted in all the ways I want

And run my fingers playfully over his heat

I’ve been asleep!

But I’m awake and skipping on

Having not been double sweet-sixteen long

I feel like this will be the golden age of me

I’m Alice, at thirty-three.