Connection

AMSTERDAM CALLING

/ deuxiemepeau / 2 Comments

I heard you today 
on the metro, 
in the morning, 
words falling
from foreign tongues 
as the train took me
so much further 
than the tracks permitted. 

I heard you today
in the distance,
calling, 
after the departure, 
a language dissolving the borders 
that bind us now broken 
but a hold still held
that I hadn’t considered. 

I heard you today 
from the other side of the track,
on the other side of goodbye 
where I knew 
the grass was greener,
where the felt 
the need was greater,
I heard you
still existing 
encore
nog steeds 
within me
but buried deep
under movement, metros 
and current concerns. 

I heard you today
on the other side of the metro,
in this new metropolis of old
unstoppable,
unbreakable, 
unforgiving,
unchanging,
while I stop
and fall
and break
and change
yearly
monthly
weekly
daily
 
I heard you today
as you whispered 
from my memories
a delightful
hello. 

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

IN HIS PLACE

/ deuxiemepeau / 5 Comments

 

And slowly the bud unfolded,
new life in bloom
as the leaves trembled
like clapping hands
while the heavens hushed.

And slowly the bud unfolded,
a spring in song,
the frost now falling
like melting tears
on her gentle face.

And slowly the bud unfolded,
as he had said,
as he had promised
when life was long
and time eternal.

And slowly the bud unfolded,
life flowing in,
the day now brighter,
air now fresher,
her loss now lighter.

And slowly the bud unfolded,
and in the breeze
she heard him whisper;
“You’ll smile again
when the buds will bloom.”

And slowly the bud unfolded,
a song in spring,
as he had promised,
a love to last,
their touch eternal.
And slowly the blood unfolded
and silence took his place…

Until slowly the bud unfolded
and in its beauty she saw his face.

 

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Listen to the audio recording on Soundcloud:

TRUST

/ deuxiemepeau / 2 Comments

 

Trust me
as I thrust into you,
as we sweetly
split the space
within the identity
that we identify
and the disguise
that we discard in corners
where clothes are cast aside
for more carnal concerns,
born in beds soon to be
bruised and battered
as we bare bodies,
as we bend bodies bare,
tongues tingling to taste
the tender flesh
fresh for plucking.
We tumble and turn
in throbbing thrusts,
in tantalising teases, swaying
to the sweaty surrendering’s
between soon to be scented sheets
and shaking shadows, shy and silent
until I cannot tell
your limbs from my legs,
your hands from my hips,
your taste from my tongue
and in between
we slave and sleep,
and in between
we worry and work,
but before it all
we lay and linger
and before it all
we kiss and cuddle
and I curl beside you
above you, below you, inside you
and even in parting
I still feel your hold around me,
feel your breath upon me,
your scent within me…

Trust me
as I thrust
as I trust in you too.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

BEAUTY IN SPACES

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There is a beauty
within this space, 
a creation considered
to compliment the concrete,

you can leave 
if you like 
by the stairs 
or you can rest
for a while
on the seat. 

There is a soul
within these veins,
a creation connected 
to more than the carcass,

you can leave
if you like 
by letting go 
or you can stay
for a time 
in the hold. 

There are footprints 
upon this floor,
tracks that tingle 
where others have thread,
 
weather will wither them
and winds will wear them

but they remain
submerged
ingrained. 

There are memories 
within this soul,
impressions that have permeated 
and beats that have broken,

they are indivisible from flesh
they are inseparable from spirit,

they are beauty
within the space
of every person.

All Words and Photography by Damien B. Donnelly

Photograph taken in the gardens of La Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporian, Paris 

 

TIME AND SPACE

/ deuxiemepeau / 4 Comments

 

I’ve seen you
on faces,
in places 
you’ve never been,
in places
you’ll never be,
on faces, 
other faces,
not your face, 
in a place
that has no claim 
to your space
since life
took your trace
from all of space.

I’ve seen you
on faces,
in foreign places 
looking for traces 
of the ‘what has been’
and the things I’ve seen,
looking for the layers
you laid on me,
the depths you drew
onto who I was
and what you knew
to be true,
the hope that was me
and the growth that killed you.

I’ve seen you
on faces,
your trace
impossible to erase,
with no regard
to time or space.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Audio version available on Soundcloud:

 

BLUE BRIDGES

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A bridge in blue
between me and you
no car can carry me
no boat can bare me
no bike can bring me

closer.

A bridge in blue
between me and you
too deep to dare
too cold to consider
too close for comfort

all connection crushed by the current.

 

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Amsterdam at Sunset

LIPS AND KISSES IN WAVES

/ deuxiemepeau / 2 Comments

 

On foreign soil
I laid my feet
in foreign arms
I kissed on foreign streets.

In other beds
I gave my body
on other beds
locked in naked bodies.

In fleeting holds
I found my needs
while fleeting was
the hold that let me feed.

In other hands
I saw you take
wondering what
hold in mine you’d make.

On tender lips
I left my taste
on other lips
I lingered long on waste.

On sleepless nights
I laid awake
twisting nights
the darkness could not break.

On salty sands
I walk on waves
and salty tears
I cast for time and tide to fade

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

A SHORT MOVEMENT IN TWO ACTS

/ deuxiemepeau / 18 Comments

 

Act 1: Dance into Night

I will call you 
like a lullaby 
at the end of the day 
when the world has hushed
and I will lay you down
into this realm unreal 
as the light falls
to the night 

Act 2: Movement in Flight

I will kiss you 
like morning dew 
as the day beckons 
and the shadows have settled 
and you can fly from this embrace
while its touch still presses
like our lip’s print
upon our skins

 

All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

LOST IN THE WATER

/ deuxiemepeau / 9 Comments

 

There is a part of me still there

with you

below the bridge
by the river
smiling

as the water rushed past us
and time flowed through us.

There is a part of me there still

in you

below the water
by the bridge
drowning

as time washed over us
and the river trickled onwards.

There is a part of you still here

in me

standing still on the bridge
and moving, like the water
through time

while the river never considered us.

There is part of you

in me, still

no matter what bridge I stand on
no matter what waters I drown in
no matter the time I am lost in.

There is a part of you,
there is a part of me

still

watching me from the waters I gaze into
to find reflections of where we lost our course.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Photograph taken in Hammersmith, London, England.

IN THE WAKE OF DAY

/ deuxiemepeau / 9 Comments

 

I see you sometimes 
in motions and moments, 
on lips being kissed
and hands being held, 

in that taxi while thinking of another,

in those arms while I searched for slumber, 

I see you sometimes 
in paintings of people,
in colours of contentment 
on canvas, connected, 

I see you on the streets that I covet
serene and smiling in the shadows,

I see you in reflections
that have yet to become,

I see you in suggestions
that have already been done, 

I see you held in other’s hands 
and caressing kisses on other lips

                not mine,
                not yet,

I see you 
no more in the dream 
but in the wake of day,

                awake and waiting 

 

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly