These three poems by J Michael Tynan appeal to the triptych of existence: the head, the heart and the soul…
by: J Michael Tynan
Flight I measure the wren in my fabled fist A first communion for both Her speck eyes brimming bright with shock She nests feign in my gentle awe Granted refuge From her feline hunter’s maw When blue beckoned freedom in a sharp flutter From my yellow envy To vanish, as I see I am a wren Captive of a callous human cat ready to leave her bloody scratch I measure my courage In my empty, feeble fist And look to the untouchable sky
Meaning of… Life is a designed futility Universal progress Abstracting divine advancement For synchronicity with intangible inexplicability A desert search by starlight More frantic with less time For a flower of disregard A perpetual bloom of meaning for no-one Forever in the shallows of substance, drowned By treacherous pleasure Unquestioned happiness Is the flagrant truth destroyer Fingers of despair scramble up the Cliff of Truth Infinite as the defining summit holds a lie of all faith bar one So, to be is one of liberty to question: “To be what? “Or why?” Or why bother?
Morphing Words How can a river accelerate to become a driver? And smooth ice have a rough ending as pumice? If mean rhymes with lean, then why can’t meaned be spoken as if it was meant when leaned can also be leant? If height can give a fright, then it’s scary that freight rhymes with crate? How can one be anointed as the wan and only wan, yet take on a different sound when found in tone?
J Michael Tynan hails from Cork City, Ireland. He worked for 40 years at the Irish Examiner newspaper, as a sub-editor and equestrian correspondent. He is the co-editor of the Blue Mondays 2021 Poetry Anthology and a contributor. He is the co-writer of the winning entry in the 2019 Cork International Folk Festival Song Contest and has staged two solo exhibitions, featuring works combining his poetry and his photography.Tynan’s first short film, Sorry, premiered at Fastnet Film Festival. His second film, Leap of Faith is currently doing the festival circuit. He is collaborating on his first poetry film.
