"A Question Of When" by Mark Barry - 3 of 3

A Question Of When

How great was my sin then?

You were so taken aback!

Did my family out-do yours this time   

In the shit-for-brains count? 

How about the letter you sent

The things you said to friends

Who now think 

They used to know me

This means war…

Cry havoc and let loose the dogs…

Hell hath no fury…

I’m living the fucking cliché!

What am I looking for?

Why do I need you to make me worthy?

Who has the power to solve this?

The sweet grace to forgive?

We used to work together

We used to tough it out 

But you raised more than your voice 

And I more than race

Salman Rushdie is on tele again 

Hunted for writing a book 

Intransigents hounding him

With their sickening religious bile

Another program shows a glass box

With a coiled snake and a titmouse

The titmouse dodges and parries

As the shadow of the serpent rises up

Incapable of leniency now,

The monster hisses before it strikes -

It’s not a question of how

It’s just a question of when...

Arc Of A Love Affair

Number 3 in a set of 3 poems

Mark Barry and Paris Shah

March/April 2006

"Of Course I Could" by Mark Barry... 1 of 3

Of Course I Could

Right now, I could just kick you in the emotional nuts

With my lethal babe weapons

Womanly wiles to which no man has any kind of defense -

Of course I could

Make you pay oh so dearly my dear

For catching my eye, for stirring up my heart

For making me want again

And need again

And hope again

I can do all of these things

My peachy young man

And much more -

Of course I could

But that would stop me seeing your smile

The blinding warmth of it

That would stop me seeing you

And of course

I can’t do that

“Arc Of A Love Affair”

Number 1 in a set of 3 poems

By Mark Barry and Paris Shah

March/April 2006

"The Ocean" by Mark Barry... 2 of 3

The Ocean

It’s all in the kiss, they say

Your first kiss was slightly awkward 

In that crowded Soho bar

Jabbing to the beat of “Owner of a Lonely Heart”

Then days later 

Eyeing grown-over initials on tree trunks in my local park

You took me again

And suddenly your kiss was like the warmth of the sun 

I was scared too, wasn’t I, as I always am

Should I go deeper into this bear-pit of open, this huge vulnerable

Find structure, solace, something to hold on to

When love offers no peace, no safety net, not really 

And even now, even here in your arms at our friend’s party

Where everyone knows us

I’m like some boat bobbing up and down on the vastness of the Sea

Water lapping at the perfectly polished veneer beneath

Soothing all on board above

But scaring me witless

I’ll sink, I’ll sink, I swear I will – and I’ll drown

And I never want to be out there again

Drowning, sinking…

So I lean over, licks my lips in invite, and dive in regardless

And our two mouths collide into a sort of familiar storm

Into this crazy foolish falling and the soft cherish

And the lovely calm afterwards 

I knew it the first time our lips met

In was in your face and mine 

As we pulled back and sipped on our drinks casually 

As if nothing much had just happened

It’s all in the kiss, they say

And yours is the Ocean…

Number 2 of 3 Poems

"Arc Of A LOve Affair"
by

Mark Barry and Paris Shah
March/April 2006

"Kids" by Mark Barry. A poem for Bernadette O'Donnell from Dublin who was killed in a youth-hosteling accident May 1980...

KIDS 

In Drimnagh

Walking down the silent volcano of

Benbulbin Road

Where the electric statues of the Immaculate Heart stand guard over the doorways

Squashing baddies and seeing off poxbottles all day and all of the night  

And the moss peat on rose bushes throttlin’ those prickly little shysters into growth 

And the big monkey tree stuck in the middle of the garden when it should be in a desert

And the Brendan Behan oul wans himmin' and hawin' over wonky hedges

With their whis whis-whisperin' about that quare wan next door… 

"Oh! Sacred Heart of Jayzuss Missus Brennan! The so-and-so never! 

Would I tell you a word of a lie Missus Walsh! 

Mother of God! And all the saints preserve us!" 

Through the deaf of you gone - Berni

I hear the beautiful sound of children 

School kids…

Screamin' and shoutin' at the top of their voices

Throwin' chewed-up biros at Jockser Doyle's funny lookin' egghead 

And big-mouth Crowley stickin' Golfball chewing-gum into his pencil box on the sly 

And fatso Bolger scoffin' down Aniseed Balls and Joyces of Cork Raspberry bars 

And farty-pants Decko with his cheek puffed-out on an everlasting gobstopper…

School kids…

Like an unstoppable torrent

Careering across the schoolyard

Swallowing up the World

I know how you loved those kids Berni - I know

The tears that would well up in your eyes 

When their loveliness touched you

And you'd reach out and hug me 

Excited for the future…

Let's go over and talk to them Berni

You and I - let's go over and talk to them

And grow in their warmth

And wallow

And bathe 

…In the lovely laughter of living…



The photograph is of Toner's Bar in Baggot Street in Dublin where we'd have a Guinness...

A poem for BERNADETTE O'DONNELL 

who was killed in a car-accident in Wicklow, Ireland while youth-hosteling - 3 May 1980

With all my love and affection - her one-time boyfriend 

Written between May 1980 and September 1982

Revisited November 2011, August 2013 and March 2016 

MARK BARRY from Dublin