WILD WORLD
By Marty Mulligan ©2003

It’s more six pack Bulmers
Than six pack muscle
Check out the face
Watch the mouth with toothpaste
The tobacco stains stay
No I ain’t gay
I think every man does it
Wants to look fit
Wants to sparkle when he smiles
To get there he’ll run miles
Lift metric tones of weights
Eat foods that he hates
Keep goodlooking mates!
And for what?
A Slut?
A Girl?
A Flirt?
A Tease?
He’ll do it all to please
For one day to get down on his knee
And tie himself a knot
Around her finger, this Mot
Around himself a noose
Once free and loose
Life was his oyster
No he doesn’t need her
To tie him down
Keep him in the same town
Your freedom is gone
Suddenly she’s a mom
And that’s the end my friend
The end to late nights
Of inexplicable love bites
The end to coming home
And feeling glad you’re alone
The end to distasteful food
Your runners are never used
Your arms turn to flab
Your dress sense is drab
You don’t have to look your best
You’re no longer obsessed.

Spare me the Celtic twilight
And all the bullshite of Ireland’s glorious past
The land of saints and scholars
Don’t make me fuckin well laugh
We’re just a tribe of people like any other
Just like the Spanish, Italian, or Mongolian
And great works of literature don’t pay the rent
When you’re queuing on the dole.

It’s alright for poets that are fulltime poets
Who are paid to give well-rehearsed lectures
About how relevant the arts are today when
They don’t have to live with the specters
Of debt collectors hanging over their heads
Every waking day of their lives
It’s easy for them to make profound statements
Sitting on their well-fed backsides.

Spare me the Celtic twilight and all the bullshite
Of Ireland’s glorious past
Save it for the history books and tourists
Looking for their roots
Give me a future that’s all I fuckin ask.

Plates plonked haphazardly in two curved hands
she wanders like a nursemaid in a ward
tending to the needs of life's escapees,
listening just enough to bring some comfort
and then moving on before familiarity creates
an expectation she cannot fulfil.

The high-roofed courtyard with its bare-bricked walls
It’s tables and it’s chairs and short-life queues
at ticket-box and bar,
the constant flow of life’s assorted faces
- continental film-goers
paper readers
conversationalists
and loners -
this the vibrant space through which she moves,
they the victims of the night in need of tending,
she the night-nurse quietly doing the rounds.

You may not know me now but you’re going to know me soon,
I’ll be hitting your town tomorrow around noon,
I’ll be banging on your window, knocking on your door,
Coming out from the woodwork, rising up through the floor
’Cos I’m the Big Love Virus and I’m coming to contaminate u.

I’ll be coming down your chimney and stroking your hair,
I’ll be spreading out around the world and cleaning up the air,
I’ll be climbing up your trouser leg and down the other side,
I’ll be in your tomato soup, there won’t be any place to hide
’Cos I’m the Big Love Virus and I’m coming to contaminate u.

I’ll be seeping through your water pipes, be climbing in your ear,
You’ll  inhale me when u breathe, and I’ll be in your beer,
I’ll be coming up the stairs and be with u in the shower,
I’ll be there with u between the sheets like a big juicy flower
’Cos I’m the Big Love Virus and I’m coming to contaminate u.

I’ll penetrate your pores and climb into your oven,
There won’t be any stopping me 'cos you’ll be longing for my loving,
I’ll be in your T-bone steak and mug of cappuccino,
I’ll be flowing through your veins like a horny Al Pacino
’Cos I’m the Big Love Virus and I’m coming to contaminate u.

I’ll be on your telly, your radio, your book,
I’ll mutate my little body within everything u cook,
When u look into the mirror you’ll see me looking back at u,
I’ll be lounging in your brassiere and lurking in your shoe,
’Cos I’m the Big Love Virus and I’m coming to contaminate u.

I’ll be on your PC screen and on the World Wide Web,
I’ll be within your bubble bath and your garden shed,
I’ll be there with u when you’re looking at the stars up in the sky,
I’ll be on the dance floor when you’re dancing, feeling groovy, feeling high
’Cos I’m the Big Love Virus and I’m coming to contaminate u.

Defend ur right to fight
Defend ur castle without hassle
Protect ur home
From those who roam
From house to house
Helping themselves to ill-gotten gains
Possessions u've collected
Paid for with ur sweat and yet
To defend ur right to fight
The fools who believe
They know it all
Will throw u to the wolves
Incarcerate the innocent
Protect the guilty
Who don't really care
Where they obtain their share
Of life's goodies
A hard days work alien to them
Honesty a forgotten feeling
Do they deserve what cums their way?
Some say no to give them a chance
But what about u?
The ordinary Joe Soap
The sap works all day
But has no say in the machinations of
A Banana Government that does not care
Oh Dear!

Yes you always had me, but we don't "do" games
After 40 million years, nothing has changed.
You come from the race of great pretenders:
Please tell me what's the hidden agenda?

My straight forwardness doesn't walk where you go
But I'm not familiar with the rules of cludeo!
Or games taught u by lesser beings,
Who think that they are Gods with silken wings.

My chariot she carried you everywhere
Did you rush past "GO", to get you there?
Did you feel superior when you won at chess?
I hope it was worth it, you leaving this mess.

But if it's a game, then I'm disillusioned
Ah! In all of these matches, there's always conclusions
For when the final whistle blows & the last dice is thrown
The last ladder scaled, the final seed is sown.

So we must play by the rules, mans rules that I hate
If this is free will, well then it's check mate
For what have you done with the freedom you got
You bled it dry, and left it to rot!

So what God-head has given must now be returned
I'm afraid that what's left must be savaged and burned.
I do hope the next time we bear an Empire
We'll see no more beings so full of desire

To take for themselves what doesn't belong
To finally learn that music's for songs
But why should they hear a sweet melody
Or taste the apple from the divine tree

For what do ye know, ye know nothing at all;
This has what hast lead to your great downfall.

Its getting hot in here
Sweating from ear to ear
Brain going nicely
Competition is mighty
Every man a sheep
Alert to the world but really asleep
Afraid of opening his eyes
Not willing to lose the disguise
Of pretentiousness, he won’t shed
Waking, sleeping, taking it to bed
Sitting upright in his chair
Conforming to what he’s told
The correct style of hair
Levis underwear, Ralph Laurens shirt
Won’t even break the ranks and flirt
With a girl not of his race
Afraid it will all blow up in his face
The brand new mobile phone
Right car and address of his home
Living in the I.F.S.C
Why can’t you see?
If you lose the suit
Give your limitations the boot
You too can be truly happy
Living off the flat of the land
Or the sea.

There's a Diabolo Moon shining through my window
On the Sacred Heart picture on the wall.
While the tarantula in the blue tuxedo
Is waiting for my ash to fall
To signify that my resistance is low and my willpower is running out
And it could be right cause the cigarette ash
Is now fast approaching my mouth.
I am lying on a spring mattress bed staring at a black and white TV
Which is showing a John Garfield movie in Chinese it appears to be
When my thoughts are disturbed by a joke I once heard
In the Palace Bar in Dublin
Then the motel manager knocks on the door
And in Spanish mutters some uttering.
The tarantula has scurried across the floor
And it's now lodged under my bed
And the punch line of that joke I once heard
Still hasn't registered in my head.
There's a Diabolo moon shining through my window
And in its reflection I see on the scratched dressing table
A plaid envelope stamped and addressed to me.
I was sure and certain I posted it the last time I left the room
I calmly reflect as the passing clouds block out the light of the moon.
Now I'll never know what the message was
Which is probably all for the best
So I'll just watch the end of the movie
And then at last I can rest.

ROGUE STATES
By Rody Ryan © 2003

Just look at him
That odd stare in his eye
As if to say
Is this really me standing up here,
speaking to the whole wide world?
I feel so powerful!
Hey! I can say anything!
I think I will.

Let’s see. What to say?
What’s that dad said?“
Speak straight from the heart”.

Here goes.“We’re gonna get those mother-fucking evil-doers!
They won’t get away with pretending to do nothing!”

What the hell are we waiting for?
The whole world knows
He’s got something up his sleeve.
Somewhere in his back garden
He’s hidden12,300 nuclear warheads
45,000 gallons of nerve-gas
6,789 skud missiles
and, to cap it all,a box of matches!
Of course he’s dangerous!

We’ll make him pay
For forcing us to move
750,000 troops up to the border,
for forcing us to drop our normal veneer
of sophistication and democracy
and impose our imperial will
upon the wishy-washy nations of the world.

Now he has smoked us out
Of our fine principles
And peaceful means
Into rabid war-mongering,
It makes me hate him even more.

I hate him so much
I’d like to bomb him myself.
Why, I’ll bomb him so hard
He’ll never recover.
I’ll bomb him and bomb him and bomb him.
I’ll get one of those long-distance,
Precision-guided missiles
And hunt him down myself.

I’ll squeeze nerve-gas
Through the key-hole of his bathroom.
I’ll put anthrax in his coffee.
I’ll hijack two 747s from Shannon
And fly them single-handed
Into his private swimming pool.

I will hover for a minute overhead
Broadcasting my message of doom
To the media lying below
I will proclaim the apocalypse.

Already I have the closing line.
“The world is over
but at least
we went down fighting”.

Dear Rich Beautiful Caring Women of the World,
Call me greedy, call me clever, call me opportunistic,
In having the foresight to make my life simplistic,
I’ve been sitting on street corners begging for some money,
But now I´m going for a bigger pot of honey
So I´m becoming an honest gigolo and will gladly sleep with u,
If you´re a rich beautiful woman and will give me a million for a screw,
& if you don´t have the doe to offer I´ll still consider lying in your bed,
´Cos the love´s the number one priority but then again that said,
If you´ve got a stash to burn then why not share it all with me,
And in return I´ll give u the freedom to have your way with me.

Now ´tis true that I might not be the greatest male on offer,
But then again the publicity might soon recuperate the coffers,
Of this rich pretty woman who took me up on my crafty plan,
To pull me from the gutter and rejuvenate this man,
So ladies aren´t you tempted, have you the guts and disposition,
To take me up on my offer, my outrageous proposition,
For a night with me will certainly be something quite unique,
Of how you forked out a million and got a chance to peek,
At what I´ve got to offer to have me between your sheets,
To catapult me into riches and off these cold corner streets.

And maybe God & Hollywood will reward you for your enterprising nature,
And if u can stand the heat and face the fact that u can´t take it with u,
Then you might as well spend it on me as leave it rotting in the Bank,
And if you´ve more to blow I´d also consider renting Hank,
Who really would have a future if he could lift himself from this hell,
So line up ladies with your chequebooks and don´t worry about the smell,
´Cos ´til soon disappear with a soak in your baths of gold,
And I´m sure you´d take ten years off me ´cos I´m really not that old,
As to what I may appear from being stuck out on these streets,
So come and save me ladies, come bring me to your sheets.
 

Vice Queen wakes up
As the door crashes in
She hears police raid
Turns white with no drug aid
The Vice Queen used to laugh
I will never get lagged
But now she knows
She is gonna be tagged
Pictures in the newspaper
Scandal in the air
But what about the punters?
Ya gotta be fair
Women in amazing positions
Men even more so
Some hanging from the rafters
Their willies in a bow
And so it seems to the po-lice
A tidy perverts den
But so what, boys and girls
Are they committing some sin?
U pays your money
Just to get some honey from the hairy tri-angle
Down south way down there
So let's not hear gasps either of shock or delite
Unlike the Vice Queen and police
We should share not fight
Alright!!

His name is Tigger
He’s my Nigger
I fucked him up the bum
But I swear I didn’t come
Up the bum
No harm done
That’s the word
I would have preferred a bird
But he was all that was available
Well at least yeah I got my hole
Took him up against the wall
On the cooker, yeah we has a sesh
He told me I’m the best
I’m gonna bounce, he said
Take me to bed
Pooh yeah he’s my favourite pal
Took me up the chocolate canal
I believe in the sun moon and stars
But you take me like you’re from Mars
Is that a mars bar in your pocket?
Kingsize or fun, either way it’s a rocket
 

Youth in bloom
red-eyed from the toll
of celebration
and the sleepless nights
of music, alcohol and love
teenage explorations
moving into adult
wisdom and experience
Our conversation grows
to fill the awkward gaps
of generations
meeting more as man to man
- or maybe boy to boy -
than could have been the case
in times gone by.

Don't criticize, don't tell me lies
Of all the things you done
Of all your brave heroic deeds
Of all the wars you won

Don't preach to me of your dignity
And respect for human life
Don't patronize me with your words
Cause your words are a load of shite

Don't give advice to put me right
You don't know where to begin
Don't be a hypocrite you saint
Did you never ever sin?

Don't lie to me, don't fill my head
With dreams I can't fulfil
Don't say poverty and hunger
Must really be God's will

Don't splash me from a puddle
As you drive by in your car
Don't quote where there's a will there's a way
Through the smoke of your big cigar

Don't do me any favours
Don't offer me a job
If I'll bow and scrape and never strike
Do you fucking think you're God

Don't offer me your sympathy
Cause I've stooped as low as this
Just stick the boot in when I'm down
Make it good this time, don't miss

Cause this time, when I get up
I'm gonna stand me ground
I'll take all you have robbed from me
I'll turn the tables round

I'll take back all the promises
Of a better life I had
Before you closed the factories down
Though you say that made you sad

Before you stuck me on the dole
And made me feel like shit
That's piled up on the sidewalks
Then you rubbed my nose in it

I'll take back all the houses
Through eviction that you stole
And turned into office blocks
Or secret rich love nest abodes

I'll take back all the self respect
You leeched away from me
I know that it's a hard job
But I'll do it, wait and see

Don't try to get an alibi
Don't make some lame excuse
For why you did the things you did cause
It's no fucking use
Don't especially plead for mercy
Whatever else you do
You ignored the underprivileged
When they begged for help to you

You always turned a blind eye
And pretended not to hear
You gave up the right to life
Just by still being here

I don't know what to do with you
Maybe stick you in a cage
And show future generations
The beast who made the world its slave

Or better still just slit your throat
And hang you like a pig
And let you bleed like you bled us
For all the things you did

Don't think you're safe cause I might fail
In my bid to depose you
Cause there's millions more just like me
Your days are numbered, either way you're through

Don't go to sleep, don't try to dream
Keep the nightmares from your head
Don't close your eyes, don't feel secure
Cause you might just wake up dead

You bargained with my love
And compromised my dream
You traded on my fears
Receding my well being

You took away my heart
And all that she’d endure
You nullified my thoughts
With an Occidental cure

Unfurnishing my soul
Of all her wonderments
I just can’t seem to see
The future tense
Oh why does my life
Make no sense

You trapped me with your spell
And tricked me with your smile
You caught me off my guard
With your infinite beguile

You helped me drop my screen
You made me feel so warm
You conquered all my hopes
With your subtleties and charm

I feel all alone, A man with no home
I just want to be a person who’s free
From all of these things that make no sense
Oh now I can see the future tense

Unfurnishing my soul
Of all her wonderments
It seems that now my life
Will make some sense
Now I’m going to build on
The future tense
Bring on oh bring on
The future tense

I read somewhere once about a drummer in a rock group
Who gave up speaking for 9 years
At the time I thought it was the ultimate in inner peace,
I admired his willpower and the concentration it took
To sustain his silence for so long
But I couldn't help but wonder, if unknown to himself
He used to talk in his sleep.

It was not unexpected
- not at all.
The air around the ship
had lain so still
and weighed so heavy
for so long
that when the storm broke
nobody was taken by surprise.

The crew, thinking to outride it, threw
the iron anchor to the ocean floor
sealed the hatches to the hold below
and waited there.

The storm, though so expected,
far surpassed in fierceness
all other storms
that ever raged
around the old ship’s bows.

The roar of thunder echoed
for a longer time
than any of the crew
could call to mind

and only older seamen
could remember
lightening such as this
in mid-September

And the moon, so full of pity, shone
with intermittent glances at the scene
as dark and evil, mind-bewitching clouds
danced like naked witches all around her

The first great CRACK
came halfway through the night
amidst a roar of thunder
and a flash of light
that lit the frightened faces
in that darkened tomb
for one brief second.
Then the younger members
of the crew
one by one
their youth and vigour threw
against the creaking portholes
and the storm beyond.

Old Aaron, eldest and most wise,
‘though weak of body, sailors often said
he had two searchlights
in his twinkling eyes
and the secrets
of the sea-winds in his head.

He rose and calmly gazed
beyond the glass
as all the others
rushed about in haste
and stumbled over stumblers
in the dark
searching for the nails
to seal their fate

Above the roaring thunder
of the waves
old Aaron’s voice was raised
“This ship will be our tomb,
this sea our grave
unless at least one hatch
is left un-nailed”.

“You fools!” he cried
as iron bolts shot home
and nails were hammered
to each wave-prone crack.
“If we can’t outride
the stormy waves
these holes may well become
our last escape.

Let is not confine
our minds and strength
only to the task
of keeping dry.
I know it may sound strange
but getting wet
may be our only hope
of staying alive!”

Young Angelo,
the youngest man aboard,
so fond was he of life
and those he loved
each moment but the present
he ignored
and scoffed the old man’s warning
as he shoved
another plank
to keep the hatches shut.

“You do not realise
how strong the sea
nor do you seem to know
what life is worth
if you suggest
we leave the hatches be!”

“Hear,hear!” the others
shouted in accord
continuing their plan
to seal the hold.

Old Aaron silenced,
scoffed at and ignored
felt his eyes go dim,
his spine grow cold.
It was not unexpected
- not at all.
Old Aaron,
eldest and most wise,
had warned them
of the death
that lay in store
within the sealed compartment
but had been ignored.

and thinking to outride
the raging seas
the men had built
themselves a wooden tomb
that floated for awhile
then slowly sank.

And the moon, so full of pity, shone
with intermittent glances at the scene
as dark and evil, mind-bewitching clouds
danced like naked witches all around her.

Well it's four in the morning and it's raining and it's pouring
I'm heading out of the house cause I can't stand no more your snoring
Just got my sax, a skimpy jacket and a hip flask full of gin
A few dollars in my pocket and a big fat grin.

Cause I'm in the mood for exploration to see what's cooking
In this dirty old town when the night owl's overlooking
I'm going to use my instinct, going to follow the signs
Play with the alley cats, going to get along fine.

I'm going to use my charm to make ends meet
And show that I can stand on my own two feet
Going to busk and sing for the fun and for the dimes
Yeah these are going to be revelation times.

Going to dance with strangers, throw my inhibitions in the bin
Harden myself up and get thick skin
See what's going on when I'm usually in my bed
Going to see what's cooking when the town seems dead.

Check out who has got their lights on and peep right in
Talk to the hookers and the vagabonds and share with them my gin
Write poetry and sketch and rummage through the skips
Going to roam through the graveyard and check out the RIP's.

Suss out the stars and constellations and give them my own set of names
Get a handful of wishes from the falling flames
See who's already working at the crack of dawn
See the sun come up and show it's face and then move on.

Hang outside the nightclubs and blow my horn
Play the drums on the garbage cans and risk public scorn
Jam with whoever is feeling in the mood
Run naked down the main street if it'll make me feel good.

I'm going to bathe in the bay and dance in the nip
And maybe hitch a ride on a passing ship
Going to boogey, improvise and leave open my next move
Live life to the full and dance in the groove.

Yeah these are going to be, revelation times
Yeah these are going to be, revelation times.

I see a poppy,
Standing proud, in a field laid bare,
Bent but not broken withstands somehow
The sky a strange colour red
With purple scudding clouds beneath
And the poppy stands alone
Frayed but brave
A shiver races like the waters
From a bursting dam
Right down my spine
Has someone walked over my grave?
The lovely poppy standing proud
In a field laid bare is no more
Before me lays a sea
Of red shifting and swaying
Gently pushed about by a breeze
Straight from Heaven
The skies have cleansed
No more dark pregnant clouds
Waiting to burst their waters
Ah but what of the one poppy
Standing proud in a field laid bare?
Oh just one of millions I fear
The same the same the same

I saw the remains of a pet
That was nailed to a door in a sprawling housing estate.
It seems it was a warning to let the family know
That to continue staying there was no longer safe

I don't know the full in's and out's of the story
But it seems that the family who lived within,
An unmarried mother and her dark skin young daughter
Caused trouble from the very first day they moved in.

The mother complained to the neighbours
When their children wrote graffiti on her door
And she even called the cops when someone tried to burn them out
By all accounts she was becoming a bore.

Perhaps if she had a husband
Or even if her daughter had been white
She might have reached the conclusion that for all its faults
A sprawling housing estate can be nice.