Virulent Virus

Virulent Virus

Attacked by a virulent virus

No wonder I feel unwell

Attacked by a virulent virus

The lives of my cells made hell

Attacked by a virulent virus

As if temperate wouldn't do

Attacked by a virulent virus

I hope you don't get it too!

Michael O'Leary - October 2012

This poem was written as an apology and was read at a conference in York with Siobhan MacMahon. 

I was unable to attend due to ill health.

Globalisation

Globalisation

Globalisation

no exaggeration
 no care or compassion

only hunger and passion

for material gain

regardless of pain

Winners and losers

Quaffers and boozers

Top dogs and hot dogs

 Chocolate logs and Swiss rolls

Housing bubble, casino bank
Credit crunch, future sank 
Profiteering, penny pinching
Tidy profit, half inching
Asset stripping, edge tipping
Downsizing, debts rising
Outsourcing, hand forcing
Call centres, corporate sentries
Mean and lean, cleaned out
Consequence not thought about

Everyman for himself
Your problem, my wealth
Views changed by stealth
Privatising your health 

Level field, you can win
 Pursue a profit, see as sin
 Lives of needy, poor and lost
 Seen as work shy, losers cost
More, it's said, than they deserve
God of Mammon, all should serve 

Mike O'Leary - October 2012

Lothario

The Mind of a Lothario

'Come lie with me 

and be my love'

 I'll lie to you 

when I pledge my love

Conquest 

is the name of my game

Seduction the means Submission my aim
The excitement of new 

The thrill of the chase
A few drinks later

Back to my place

I am a charmer 

I will have my way

I'll make you feel special 

Just for a day

I'll flatter with words 

I'll attend to your needs
You'll hang on to my words You'll follow my lead

I'll fill you with dreams 

But when you awake
You'll be left with a feeling 

Of more give than take

 You'll think it's your fault What's wrong with you
 Our targets were different 

My aim was true

Mike O'Leary - October 2012

Unfortunately these characters do exist

National Poetry Day - Stars that burn bright

Stars that burn bright

who'd be a star
blinking from afar
your light just revealing
you were so appealing
though long dead you are
we think you still are
a place in the sky
we can see when we try

stars that burn bright
may only be light
from a long time ago
 the poet says no

Mike O'Leary - October 2012

What Love is

What Love is

Love is greater than you and me

It doesn't falter when we disagree

Love is a bond that sets us free

It doesn't blind us, it lets us see

Love carves it's initials in our tree

No longer enough, just to be

Love changes you and me into we

Soon enough two, soon maybe three

Love can be scary, you may want to flee

Run from your feelings, run away, break free

Love that is precious, hears a lovers plea

'Don't leave me alone, I cry out to thee'

Love makes us crazy, knocks us out of our tree

Sometimes full of remorse, sometimes full of glee

Love fills us with joy, Love hurts when it ends

When your lover says, 'Can we still be friends?'

Love makes fools of us all, but alone what are we?

 Just an incomplete he, an incomplete she?

Mike O'Leary – October 2012