So many Joans of Arc,
abandoned by the monarch
to the forces of economy
capitalistic aristocracy

Mother Theresa
hangs her head in shame
Technology makes politics
a very different game

The council made many moves
placing pieces here and there
The knights and knaves
now ashes in the air

Who won?
The game was no fun
for anyone

              Sean Hunt June 2017

Both of our truths shine
Equally bright
In the light of day
And in the darker light
Of the moon
At night

Some people know
The easier truth
Some of the time;
This truth,
Though easily known
Is oft forgotten
Right away
Not lasting the day

The other truth
Not obscured
Is never known
By the minds of youth
It needs a more steady mind
To find the flame
Then to keep it alight
Day and night

Sean Hunt
Windermere Dec 27 2015

Leonard

He died days ago
I didn’t know
A few knew
Now
We all know
We want details
How where when why
Who was with him
What were the last words
Heard
Before he breathed
His last breath
In The City Of Angels

He left the stage
Split the scene
This doesn’t mean
The scene was real
We dreamed him
He dreamed us
He would not want
Too much fuss

Sean Hunt  Nov 12 2016

If I'm not here now, where will I be
Thrown up on a beach, or pulled out to sea
Lost in a story, about someone named 'Me'
Tossed by the waves, of history

Did the things I remember happen
Will my fantasies ever come through
I picked up the pieces of so many days
I should know by now, for sure

We discussed my imagination
debated the day, me and you
"The light's turning red" I said
but all you saw was blue

Today we have signed a treaty
and now there is peace in our land
We agree as we sit in the sun by the sea
building our castles from sand

The puzzle becoming more muddled
some pieces hiding under the others
intuition not helping
confusion telling

High anxiety’s refrain
is in the air
and our breath has stopped
us in a stare

Paralysis and impotence
guard the gates
against
spontaneous response

How where when?
Will it all end?
Question marks abound
and surround the event

In the sea of reality
I feel the waves wash over me
one by one
and then return
to the place they came from
one by one

Sometimes in the warmth of the sun
and with someone
I am mostly alone
bitten by the breeze
and on the run
from wave to wave
a surfer trying
desperately
to stay away
from the sea

Who lives between
the child and the man
in the land of unfair dizziness
where one is simply
unable to rest
running a gauntlet
of tests
in tortured times
of terrible apprehension
fabricated arrogance
and insolence
not-knowing and pretension
overcompensation
for frightful fear

unknown
he comes and goes
thank christ

Red rose petals fall
like flakes of snow
and the water in the creek
is very low

I thought I live in England
where we almost drown
when hope of summer
comes around

Today if we want rain
we must run off
believe it or not
to the plains in Spain

I scowled
Then growled
I didn't think I could
Nor did that cat
He ran so fast

Many people have the back
of Boris the blind buffoon

I wonder why

Some people like to spread their bread
and bite into their Marmite

I wonder why

He thinks he is an orator
and we’re all still at war

I wonder why

Overweight with a waddle
Winston is his role model

I wonder why

Lurching in Churchill’s shadow
They’re both destined for the gallows

I wonder why

He’s messing all the while
with Cromwellian consequences on the emerald isle


I wonder why

Fenced In

Yes
We are fenced in
'They' have fenced us in
But the lock is imaginary
Thus we have the key
And we are free

Sean Hunt  
Windermere   2015 January 31st

Korean Kim
wrote a poem today
and I really like
what he had to say

He said the remarks
of Tyrannical Trump
have the trademark
of ‘a dog’s bark’

Here I am to sing my song
The one I've sung For O so long
From London town
To Windermere
I sang it there
I sing it here
I know the tune
I know the words
This is my song
You've never heard

I never wanted
To be seen
So many people seemed so mean
Some would wound me with their eyes
They cut me up
With little knives
The torture chamber
Was my world
But I was grit
inside a pearl

Now I know
It's all a dream
Why do I still
Want to scream
I wonder when
That day will come
When I no longer want to run
I know the day will arrive
When peoples' eyes
Don't feel like knives

I'm not a boy
In a new country
Who doesn't want
To be seen
Now there's no mum
There's no dad
There's no one
To treat me bad
My hair is gone
My hair is grey
And soon I'll go
To my grave
This is my magic
Shadow show
Where I make tigers
This I know

Sean Hunt
Windermere Nov 13 2015

Winter
A waiting game
Every day seems the same
Winter
A waiting time
Waiting for weather to be fine

Earth holds her breath
During many short days
More long nights
And a rationing of light

Half the world held hostage
In suspense
Balanced on a knife-edge
Ledge of death

Until one day
When karma comes
Like a microwave
Radiating
Inside out
From the middle of the riddle
From the center of space
From the middle of the air
To everywhere

A sigh of relief
On half the globe
A sense of levitation
And deep appreciation
For the change
While the other half
Tenses in apprehension
Of their change
Sean Hunt  Dec 31st 2016

When blame is the game
we’re floundering
upside down

When blame is the game
no one wins
everyone sins

When blame is the game
the ground we are on
is wrong

When blame is the game
scream at the stars
you won’t get very far

When blame is the game
go back to the start
and open your heart

This Winter
surprisingly
is more like spring
No frozen pipes
No overcoats
Early bursting buds and tiny flies
Sunshine and short sleeve shirts
Sitting in the garden
out of sync
somewhat confused
Summer drinks
are on the tray
We're behaving like it's
a summer day

Clouds don’t stay around for long
like headline news
coming and going
becoming ‘old’ very soon

Like morning sun and nighttime moon
the switch one day will wear out
Our world will tire of hot and cold
black and white darkness and light

Gold or bust
Bronze is too close to rust  
and change we must

All along the precipice
we stand
unable to hold hands

as the night air
everywhere
becomes rarified

almost oxygen-free
affecting
the way we see

The red sunset
will not surrender yet
as she shouts, out loud

Make space  
Inside your mind  
Find a place
To unwind
Breathe
Some air
See the stillness
When you stare
At the space
In there


    Sean Hunt   March 2017

We have been protected
By our circumstances
Never free
To take that chance
To dance
With wild abandon
On the edge of the cliff
From which
All lovers fall
We have been blessed
And destined
To remain
Potential lovers

Our imaginations
Wrote a happy script
Craziness and pain
Were not part of it


         Sean Hunt    
Dec 2016 Windermere

Day two
and there's still
a lingering scent of you
sparking
memories
of your presence
You could come
every second day
and like a cat
rub your back
against
everything
in my flat
Or tell me the name
of the perfume you wear
I could buy some
and sprinkle a little
here there
and everywhere

We rage at the clouds passing us by
Flashes of lightning catching our eye
Sorrow sprays down wetting our world
Both of us know what we see is absurd

This terrible storm keeps pretending to stay
Solid as stone it won’t go away
but both of us know the invisible truth
This is the way we play in youth

As shadows take shape in the space between
I don’t see you, you don’t see me
We dance with ghosts, their names on our cards
How many more will break our hearts

We smiled as we stared into the sun
on occasional days when we put down our guns
I remember our flashes of laughter and joy
when friends held hands like a girl and a boy

When life is hellish
you may be suffering from
the selfish fetish
forgetting everyone else
hopelessly in love with your self
shying away from the borderline
thinking of ‘me’
thinking of ‘mine’
whining the existential whine
bunkered down behind the line
that nobody drew
not even you
myopically mistaken
asleep
and oh so far from awake

I wonder where it lurks,
in the rivers
flowing through the liver,
in the ****, in the heart
in the darkness of a mind
mercurial movements
from the corner of my eye
stalking and seeking
but never seeing
flickering things
passing by

Or is it a long alarm
warning of harm
coming my way
today
or tomorrow
an angel trumpeting
the coming
of danger

Fear,
friend or foe?
                                                    by Sean Hunt

Imitation flames pretending to be real
We see with a mind that feels

Though there seems to be fire at our feet
a fake fireplace never gives heat

Animals hurdle through the chute, one at a time
A purple mist descends, darkness the color of wine

Morning paper news ignores the horrors of the state
and there are no Gandhis now, for us to imitate

Before the ship gets wrecked
Do a reality check
Test the truth
Just because it feels good
Doesn't mean it's real?
And if it feels bad
Don't be sad
Don't be mad
Don't be 'had'

What's the real deal
Living here in
'Lego Land'
Head down in the sand
A hair in the hand
It's so hard to understand
The way things are
In Lego Land
Life’s so hard
In Lego Land

Don't let "things'
Get out of hand?
Make a plan
To understand
Maybe a notion
To drink from the ocean
Or taking a walk
Down the middle way
Will save your day?
                                    Sean Hunt  May 2017

I feel like a rabbit
caught in a stare
afraid that someone
may see me out there

I think I see them
They think they see me
My world is full of
enemies

I'm frozen like a statue
in the middle of town
pretending there's nobody
else around

Looks like I'm meditating but
Fear is my name
My movie has stopped
I'm stuck in a frame

There's an army of shadows
waiting in the wings
They want to come
and do some thing

I wish I could be
anywhere else
other than here
where I'm safe and well

Stop this world
I want to get off
this spinning stage
I've had enough

I’m watching a gardener at his game
To be honest it seems a little insane
like playing with water as it falls
through the hands and into the sand

His wife is working at his side
The team is trying to turn the tide
They will for maybe a moment or two
But anarchic nature will blast her way through

They say there is a secret
known by very few
is it known by you
have they tried to sell it to you
on the internet
steps of this pyramid
they say
will take you to
a private pinnacle
shared by very few
freakishly fortunate
and especially special
people
chosen to be chosen
by the chosen ones
who were lucky enough
to be chosen
by other chosen ones
in a corporate coven

I am not your mother
I’m another person
appearing in your life
I took you as my wife

Yet you see me
in a different way some days
when distant memories
can carry you away

Then subterranean things begin to happen
tremors from fracking
toxic gases get injected way below
the layers of the life we think we know

I am not your mother
I’m another person
appearing in your life
I took you as my wife

Courage (Haiku)

Bee on blue easel
Dark wind blowing from the east
Wine courage at feast

In the morning
the day is born
Why do we sometimes
whinge and cry
when the sun rises
in the sky

Why do we whimper
late at night
when death has been
cheated
and at our feet lies
a safe retreat

We fear the hello
we say to the day
We hate goodbye
when the hour is late
We’re oh so fickle
stuck between two pickles

Not knowing the why of die
and the hidden truth of lies
The ultimate answer will suffice
for one who must be wise

Because of air there is breath
Because of birth there is death
Cause comes first then effect
Because of cause I win a bet

Because of effect I do not see
beyond the stars and skies
living here in misery
wondering who and why

Because of cause I live on earth
crippled and in fear
Because of cause I tremble
and wonder why I'm here

Because of cause there is a door
through which I'll walk one day
Because of effect I will escape
by rules I put in play

Because of cause someone will show
The path that will be shown
Because of effect we all will learn
those things we need to know

Common Land
always owned
by people or a company
Seems a strange idea to me
We can walk and talk
out there
And sheep can graze
everywhere
But you cannot camp
on common land
unless you’re covered up
in wool
or big and brave
like John Bull

From a spark of anger
it all happened
one day
when
he should have stayed
sane

His face distorted
instantly
when her words
rattled his head

The surface waves
became too tall
crashing over
roads and walls

The blade spiralled
into her heart
her next life
ready to start

(Every Tuesday the O'Bheal Poetry competition in Ireland suggests five unrelated words and the contest or challenge is to make a poem from those five words.  On July 9th the five words were:  spiral   blade   spark   distort   surface ).  One can google.....' O'Bheal Five-Word poetry'  competition and submit any poems for an annual contest where the winner travels to Ireland all expenses paid to read their poem at an event.

The towns around me are boring
I don’t want to go out my door
I sit inside here snoring
There’s nowhere I want to explore

The people I see are not pretty
Something is wrong with each face
Exceptions are few, just me and you
I dislike the whole human race

When I plan a great escape
and fly from north to south
the sun is so hot I’m begging for shade
but don’t want to be in or out

The menus never change
The choices are always the same
I’m finding my food very strange
and looking for someone to blame

I’ve been living here way too long
I’m beginning to squinch and flinch
It is said that just like this song
The English love to whinge

If you sit by my bed
while I’m becoming dead
would you remember please 
these words that I’ve said

Watch your thoughts and feelings
guard your mind against
gladness or sadness
or bedside pretense

My journey will depend
on the state of my mind
In peace, please help me
leave this world behind

Farewell to you and yours
As I walk through this door
to everyone I’ve known
I say goodbye for ever more

This end is the beginning
of a world that will be new
This one will disappear
along with me and you

We peer through pixels
at some ‘thing’ on a screen
We know it’s only show
but it feels as real as a dream

We ride a roller coaster
emotions pop like corn
When mirrors lie
delusions then are born

The site is full of light
bouncing through the air
but the scene that we see
is not really there

Some themes are easily seen
Others?
One can spend a life
Deciphering
And die before
Discovering
That the theme was
'The absence 
Of a theme'

I sometimes
Find my mind
Rumbling
With early tremors
Of rage
When listening to 
Some silly songs
Wishing to heaven
That the theme were 
Absent

Sean Hunt 
Windermere Easter 2015

Every moment of hesitation
Every moment of non-realization
Is a grain of liberation sand
Falling through my hand
Every grasp that I make
With every breath that I take
Is a grain of liberation sand
Falling through my hand
I can mount taking
and giving on the breath
so I can mount liberation
also on my breath

Daphne and Colin
Alan and Ron
Norman and Norma
Others whose names
we forget
All Dead

The sky is not blue
not for me and not for you
fly up there and see

There's a deadline
for this rhyme
Let's not be late
Better to be on time

The clock is ticking
ticking away
and soon it will be
the end of the day

My poems are all
under a page
so they don't end up
in the New Age

Succinct and sweet
is the taste I like
for anything
I read or write

Now I'll end right here
in the middle of the sheet
Put up my pen
and put up my feet

Stop
Be still
Mental movement
In the mind
Must cease
Now and then
And then again
Now and then
Until thought
Can be stopped
At will
We must learn
To be still

Sean Hunt  Jan 1st 2017

Don't be left, don't be right
Be between
the dark and light
                   Between
the demons of heaven and hell
Be like the pea, under the shell
Be between
the grains of sand
          as they're falling  
                 through your hand
Between
the bubbles as they burst
Sharing all the air on earth

My mind is like a fly
Landing here and there
And Everywhere
Perhaps the fly has more sense
There is a reason why
For the fly


I can go from here to there
And not really care
To know why
Unlike the fly
He is on a mission
To find food or a friend
My mind goes everywhere
For nothing in the end


       Sean Hunt  May 2017

Here we have for you
A happy birthday haiku
without more ado

From the ethereal home
of every thing
come ideas and plans
schemes and dreams
in the mind of man
Ephemeral origins
of war and peace
Tormented by
invisible causes
of things that are seen
by horrified eyes
The birthing on earth
of villains and heroes
saints and sinners
losers and winners
A circular journey
from death to birth
from here to hell
and back again
cursed and blessed
by amnesia
not knowing the game
Playing and losing
again and again
The same old refrain

Out of the blue
I found the courage
to drink the wine
and I made a bee-line east