FINDING FAVOUR

09/11/201624/01/2018 / deuxiemepeau / 2 Comments

Dig deep fisherman, brave man,
for there is worth below the waters,

between the silence
and the stillness,
between the fish to find
and the tangles to entwine,
between the breathing in
and the letting go, let it go,
between the desire to dive
and the danger of drowning.

Dig deep fisherman, simple man,
for there is madness in the making

beyond the bank and bed
and bark and bait,
beyond the trees that tower
and the skies that shelter,
beyond the seductive stillness
and the call of the silence,
beyond the fortune to be found
at the end of your line.

Dig deep fisherman, honest man,
salvation lies in your simple swing

far from the sinners
swimming upstream,
far the faithful
drowning in the shallows,
far from lies
cast to raging waters, enraging waters,
far from the substance
since sucked from the sacred.

Dig deep fisherman, still standing man,
make not the crowd your coffin

sure is the rod
that sweeps the silence,
brave is the bait
that slips though the stillness,
clever are the cautious
who consider the current,
fortunate is the fisherman
who finds favour far from fools.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Audio version available on Soundcloud:

SNAP

02/11/201616/08/2021 / deuxiemepeau / 5 Comments

Pictures capture the setting in silence
as if the silence has settled

Reflections capture the stillness in the water
as if to sink beneath

could somehow be more soothing
than the reality rocking
just a fraction beyond the frame.

Hope is as fragile as a pond of still water,

a breath held

as if to hold back the ripples
that can render illusion

a drowned delusion.

Snap.

All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

CHINA IN PICTURES; SHANGHAI STORIES

23/10/201616/08/2021 / deuxiemepeau / 15 Comments

Last week I was in Shanghai for work and met jet lag straight on, here are some of the pictures from that week, including 6am walks through the city while it was waking and I was searching for sleep…

The mountains of the clouds

The customary gas mask in your room for emergencies, wrapped in a velvet pouch

Jing’an Temple

Waiting to something to clean

The new climbing over the old

Morning rituals

Nanjing Road

Dali time

Start of the morning commute

new mode of transport

Japanese dining

Concept store Corso Como

Passion Fruit Cocktail in the Coconut Paradise Restaurant

new buildings and old ways

The People’s Square

Red Queue and phone box

Market streets

Smoke and Flowers in the floor

Funky food plates and twisting cutlery

Da Dong restaurant and our own Duck being sliced

The Dragon’s Breath stealing the view on the Bund

The year of the rain

Old Town umbrellas

City God Temple of Shanghai

And ending with a little consideration for the bottom…

All Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

COSTINGS

22/10/201625/01/2018 / deuxiemepeau / 6 Comments

I read you
through pictures,
past and fading,
fast forgetting what it was
to be free,
what it was to be healthy.
I read you in
leaves that fall
from twisted trees
when summer is still shining,
when autumn has not yet begun,
when seasons no longer come when expected.
I read you
in rivers that are rising
and seas no longer salty
but bashed by bitter tears
the years have pushed with pollution
in place of finding a solution.
I read you
through hope no longer healthy,
no longer worthy to the wealthy
who’ve drained you dry.
There is no blood in stone,
there is no money making motive left unturned
but we are turned,
but we are undone,
have undone this wizened world
and home is now hardly a harbour
but a broken boat
waiting to be tossed from a world
once known, once cherished,
now blown to bits,
scattered fragments
like falling leaves,
like rising rivers,
like discoloured waters,
like extinct animals,
fading in pictures of what beauty once was
before man made demands without counting the cost.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Audio version available on Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/damien-donnelly-2/costings

GOLDEN HARMONIES

15/10/201616/08/2021 / deuxiemepeau / 3 Comments

Sight sees,
on Sundays,
beds of bowing
sunflowers, bowing
in beauty, not weeping
from weary, caught under
careful clouds; to comfort, not
to crush, sweet simplicity in growing
gardens, growing gold, going on, going green.
Sight sees, on Sundays, harmony reigning majestically.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

THE B’S

09/10/201616/08/2021 / deuxiemepeau / 6 Comments

Between the beauty and the bee
there is a hunger
for what will be the honey.

Between the honey and the hunger
there is a sting
that can piece through the beauty.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

CONSTELLATIONS; BEAUTY BURNING

02/10/201616/08/2021 / deuxiemepeau / 1 Comment

In response to Jane Dougherty Writes Poetry challenge #50: Fifty

For challenge No.50, the big one, the rules are simple: single stanza, five lines, ten syllables in each line and the last word of each line holds the rhyme throughout. The image supplied by Jane is entitled ‘Constellations’. So go check it out and get writing… Jane is waiting, stars are burning…

I lay me down neath the constellation
as my soul seeks shade from observation,
this sky full of stars my sweet salvation
though tumbling towards obliteration;
how beauty blazes before cremation.

All words by Damien B. Donnelly

WHITE STARLIGHT

17/08/201625/01/2018 / deuxiemepeau / 1 Comment

White starlight
light and lucent
springs from
ailing earth
in quite corners
of tended borders
so fine and fair,
fragility unfolding
precious petals
perhaps to soften
the edges
of darker days
that have set
shadows upon
so many sunsets

White starlight
cradles beauty,
a bold beacon
blooming amid
these burdens
that bind us
To broken branches,
she’s taking chances
ripe and rare
like subtle silk,
like flowing milk,
so bright and brave
to dare to bloom
amidst these months
of doom and gloom

White starlight
in broad daylight,
a wonder witnessed
among this world
of weeds
and tangled vines
that strangle
the timid
and the truth.

White starlight.
fear not fragility
for she is
born to fight.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly.

FESTERING FRUIT

14/08/201616/08/2021 / deuxiemepeau / 4 Comments

Berries blacken in the bowl,
their scent no longer salivating
summer’s sweet seductions,
winter withers in the distance,
while fervent flies are fluttering,
wings flapping to the rotting
arousal of carnality lost
to natures once fair bloom.
Tastes are truly to the barer born.
Bitter berries are black in the bowl,
their flesh no longer fresh but
turned, they are turning
bruised attention to things
with darker tendencies,
igniting interest in insects,
finding themselves delicious
to diptera’s wavering wings
now deciphering detours
to decomposing juices of festering
fruits who’ve waned in worth.
Black berries, once in bloom,
are eager to be devoured
before their time dissolves.

Are we but berries
battling in this bowl of life;
thirsty to be tasted and tried
before we are aged and expired.

If only we could be grapes
that age in barrels and bottles.

All Words and Drawings by Damien B. Donnelly

Audio available on Soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/damien-donnelly-2/festering-fruit

WILFUL IN THE WILD

27/07/201616/08/2021 / deuxiemepeau / 9 Comments

Wilful in ways worrisome
like in the wilderness weaned,
he was born of the breeze
and bound from baby to be breathless

and when they caught him he said;

‘When I lay me down
let the ground make of me what it wants,
let the soil seek substance beneath my skin.’

Reckless in ruthless rebellion
like the river ravages routes,
too timid to be touched
and too tormented to be tamed

and when they chained him he said;

‘When I lay me down
let the sun make of me what it wants
let its rays find rest on my remains.’

But as they strung him up
he heard, in the distance, the feathers running restless,
and as they pulled the rope
he knew, in the mountains, the vultures were hovering

eager, at last, to make a meal out of what was a beast of a man.

All Words and Photographs by Damien B. Donnelly

Photograph taken just outside of Galway in Ireland.

Audio version available on Soundcloud: