The next time you hear a someone use the word billion in a casual manner, think about …
A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one of its releases.
a.. A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
b.. A […]
Puns
1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn’t much, but the reception was excellent.
2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, “I’ll serve you, but don’t start anything.”
3. Two peanuts walk into a bar and one was a salted.
4. A […]
Slap Gently
by John O’Brien, Jr.
Its late at nite and I hear your name.
as a beam from the distant porch lite
on a nite of no lite
piercing, silent
a whole orchestra of meaning in
one
little
tiny
distant
lite
tendrils of my response.
Trick from sense to sense.
Night vision goggles
find no heat, no beating heart
to guide them to their target.
Gunfire echoes
shots across the bow
only to […]
Teeter-Totter
by John O’Brien, Jr.
Born in the Burren
joy, laughter, song and story
A rich heritage steeped in lore
hedge schools and seanchie.
Centuries old rediscovered, relived, passed on.
Then,
stone tables barren
resounding echoes of barren acts of the stranger.
Burying, endless burying
children, hunger, hatred, hope
before finally
being waked in the shadow of a ship.
Up the plank
off to America,
down the plank
and into the Civil […]
The Bewk was selected by Irish Books and Media, who supply all the Irish Import stores across the U.S., to be in their Christmas Catalog. The book cover and a writeup are included.
My new book, Festival Legends: Songs & Stories, is revewed by Nicky Rossitter in Irish Music Magazine this month (November 2006 Issue. Volume 13, No. 3). Out of Dublin, Ireland, Irish Music Magazine (IMM) is the bible of Irish music all around the world, giving histories, interviews and news mostly in Ireland, but […]
New Cloaks
by John O’Brien, Jr.
A secret admirer sends you flowers
Future lover I wonder, do you have ESP powers?
For you overtake my mind, despite the fog and the murk
Dreams become reality, subconsciously lurks
Waiting for the day, thirsting for some hour
The moment we first go beyond, bathe in hope’s shower
and when we dry off, then realize we’re […]
Icy
Cold
Yet even the site of you can be refreshing
soothing, calming
or can fire up my mind and leave me exhausted for sleep
with no hope of finding it.
You tantalize, long, golden brown
or flip, black, turning back all light
You can burn me,
bubble over me as I poured over you
in making you.
And yet, yet
you are what I long for […]