Presentation College, Headford, Galway

Man Without Face

I walk amongst the reeds
Water soaks my skin
And I weep
As I tread through the darkness

I am cold
There’s no horizon
Only whispering in my ear
And red water caressing my skin

Louder the whispering becomes
I beckon it closer
I scream for it to stay away
My body aches

Tears flow
Into red water
And the pale man
Without a face

Haunts me relentlessly
Opening up the wounds
He gifted me
Long ago

He clenches onto me
He heaves
Revolted, I choke
My soul shatters

I look upon
A dismembered body
My own I see
I step away

I walk amongst the reeds
Water soaks my skin
And I weep
As I tread through the darkness

Reflections

Stand in the mirror
stomach out, stomach in
tell myself i’m good enough
in my own skin
count calories, go for walks
skip breakfast
meals from the ice box
breakdown and eat
feel a tonne heavier
somehow when you look in the mirror
your reflection is scarier.

Doors Slammed Shut

Karl Marx opened the door to new ideas
Stalin rose the poor to new places
While having to deal with two world wars
The arm and space races.
They were champions and victors
But we see them as failures

They did not fail
They were abused and disgraced
By the same people that destroyed lives
People rebelled for it to be changed.
And they succeeded.
But revisionism settled as capitalism prospered.
Our future is bright they told us
As they shot the black man without a fuss.

The common man is tricked to fight wars with foreign powers.
Death, retaliation, destruction, Twin Towers.
The terrorist is no different from you and I.
The difference is we won.
And now we are taught our way is the only way it should be done.

 

The Harp

Fingers on the strings, here it comes,
The Melody bursts out, rhythm she becomes’
Her tunes dance and bring grace to movement,
As the music is proud and blooming.
Did the stars give this to her as a gift?
Or has Apollo himself granted this talent?
Such as the melody and her harp,
Delicate music that is heard from afar
It is powerful, this music, and beautiful,
Strongly blows wind to the east, how I’ve heard this song from the harp and melody herself,
I hear it in my heart, all by myself

A Little Piece of Me

A little piece of me
There’s something to think about
Why is it you’ve never thought about this
Is it something more than doubt ?
I keep telling myself there’s more
To this small collection of atoms
That just so happens to be me
That come together for a period of time
And fall apart so easily

On The Inside

The staring eyes,
Wide with surprise,
Haunting in my sleep,
They say I’m different,
But I prefer unique,
With every poke, scar and beep.
They never reach in,
It’s too much to ask,
This fight that I’m fighting,
Is my endless task.
No different on the outside,
But under the surface,
There’s much more to see,
Nervous and hopeless.
‘A smile can speak a thousand words’
They lied,
But the question really is,
How many can it hide?

It’s easy for you

To say “I would never do that”
To shrug it off as someone else’s business
To dismiss it as trouble on “foreign soil”
It’s easy now
To pretend you’re above it all
You would never go into the mire
No matter how far the other ones went down
But hindsight is 20:20
You can’t possibly know
What is was like to be there
You don’t understand the injustice suffered
You say your grandfather was a part of it
But is was okay back then, there’s a difference
That’s what your teacher said, that’s what our leaders say
But do please explain this much-revered difference
Because as far as I can see the only difference is time
It’s easy for you now
To take the moral high ground

The Battle for Acceptance

Acceptance has nothing to do with expectations,
It has more to do with playing PlayStation than good grades,
We are made by these norms,
And broken by these unfortunate bores.

We become mirrors but no one cares,
Until later, when people preach diversity,
But we leach on to the past,
Because we were told we were made to last.

Strings

Since I was eight I learned the violin
From pizzicato to bowing
Across each string
The whole house groaned when I took out Bertie
But now they sign in happiness to hear me recite Mozart and Bach From sunrise to sunset

Another source of keeping me happy is my
piano.
I sit at the large back stringed instrument and as I recite each and every piece
Every worry or slice of anxiety seems to float away
Like boats from the city bay

Ten years of music later
I am as happy as an alligator
Both give me a source of accomplishment and keep me as busy as a bee
I am happy my mum forced me to be a musician during that cold May

As I ride

down the dusty road at 55 kilometres,
The only thing on my mind is how to greet her,
Riding motorbikes frees the soul
But thinking about her has left my mind with a hole,
That cannot be fulfilled
Until her smile has appeared,
Until we part ways and I can only think of her,
Till then I ride and the leaves behind me begin to stir.

That’s life, like

You may think your shy when you’re not,
you may think you’re an open book when you’re not
You may think you’re something special,
even if you might be nothing

But as long as you think something about yourself,
you’ll know how to live

You may feel alone,
but if somebody comes up to you and asks if you’re alone what would you answer?
You may be “at home”,
but would you consider it as home?

Things change,
but that doesn’t mean it’s bad
A clever man once said:
Changing isn’t a bad thing
and never was
It’s just life

And if you live your life
as if everyday
would be your last day
you’ll start enjoying life

But you’ll still change

Everywhere

Mom said to me The racism and riots in America is awful bad
But it’s not just there is it
ITS EVERYWHERE
it’s a disease like no other
Because this disease is caused and cured by the same thing
The MIND
People post black squares cause everyone else is
not cause they want to help millions of people with daily injustices
ITS EVERYWHERE

Happy

Happiness is a funny thing
It’s a feeling we all seek.
It’s not something that money can bring
You could be without it for a week.

Happiness is what I need
To keep me going strong.
When I plant a happy seed
I sing a happy song

Happiness brings me joy
It keeps me up at night.
I’ve been this happy since I was a boy
My joy is quite a sight.

I’ve come to the end of
My happy poem so now I must say goodbye.
I hope my poem has brought you joy
And if not then you can go and cry.

Hypocritical

The modern school system to creativity is destructive
It teaches us to work hard, every day but that’s not constructive
To write in neat lines
Always be on time
We’re going to school
Just to follow rules
They say you can to talk to us whenever
But when they want to listen, never
So any problems you have at home
Must be kept inside your dome
This may seem strange, but it’s quite typical
Because the school system is hypocritical.

Pointless 

School doesn’t teach you about the real world
It teaches you useless things
When at home you’ll learn more
You will experience more
I’d rather be out working
And learning useful things
Then stuck in a classroom and learning nothing useful
And just sitting down and sleeping.

Enjoying life

I bought a fish
I dont know why
Just go with the flow
And enjoy my time

I should be studying
Or fixing my life
But i bought a fish
And i don’t know why

I tried to work
But i cant be bothered
Id rather lie down
Or try tomorrow

I do what i want
For nobody else
Just having fun
Even by myself

Pressure

The pressure to perform in my sport
Questioning am I too tall or too short
The morning of the match
The first ball I mightn’t catch
Parents asking me am I ready
I can’t stand steady
The match whistle blows
I guess here I go

I wish i was younger

when all i used to do was wonder
what my life would be like now
but now i wonder how
how did all my wonders come so sore
and i was i was younger once more

because when i was younger
i didn’t feel as much colder
and not want to live another day
i dont know how to say
but i’ll never know if i’ll be okay
because when i am it’s only temporary

but i know tat one day
i’ll look back and say
i won’t my battles and succeeded to stay

Goodbye for now

I can’t believe the time has come,
The time to say goodbye,
Every time I want to cry I just look up to the sky,
I pray that this is not real,
I pray that it’s a dream,
I hope that I will see you soon,
I hope to visit you again next June.

Disco disaster

I went to a disco
and got absolutely poo-faced ,
Got thrown of the bus
then met my mother in a bad way,
The aul pair fit to kill me
But they kept it in a few days
I came to the conclusion
That vodka is a death trail.

Sitting in the dugout

With a bit of doubt
Wondering will I get to run out
And hear the crowd shout
Sixty minutes have passed by
Of me staring at the sky
Dreams being shattered as time goes by
Trying not to cry

The Cycle

I sit here, day after day
An endless cycle on repeat
I am stuck here, day after day
Told how to dress, how to act, how to think
I am stuck here, day after day
An endless cycle on repeat.

The whistle

The ball goes up
With the minutes on the clock.
The nerves kick in,
The shouts begin,
Hoping we will win.
And then, like that,
The game is done and a team has won.
The thrill I get from watching the game I love,
Is like nothing I can describe.

Being born in Galway

It wasn’t the worst
Compared to friend where they come from hurts.

5years if my life were hard
But when I had my granny it was well on par

Growing up was a privilege having parents together
Feeling sorry for people who have no money and had to gather.

I am very thankful for life so far.

In My Brain

Is it what comes from father, your brother, your mother,
That fuels the irrelevant need to judge another?

Is it because of the problems at home,
That you sit on this great, golden throne?
A throne of insecurity, doubt and self-hate,
Does it help you alleviate when you discriminate?

Maybe is it because your mother’s sick,
But that does not excuse you acting like a prick.
Stop trying to impress your so called associate,
Maybe try to be composed, civilised or god damn appropriate.

Maybe it’s because you’re yet to meet inner acceptance,
And that’s why you bitch about others in every sentence.
I hope you find acceptance in your life,
Maybe settle down and find a wife,

If you don’t I won’t complain,
Cause’ your words mean nothing,
In My Brain

Ive been hating school these days

Trying to skip school in lots of different ways
I have good friends and they treat me well
But the work here aint really swell
Teachers work us hard and no one likes it
But it’s like there’s no way on how to transmit
How we feel about the system
And how much i know I won’t miss ’em

One More Time

I wish I could see his face one more time
Or go to the hospital and just to feel fine
He never failed to make me smile
Even if all we did was talk for awhile
And Even tho he may be gone
I’ll never forget him and you can’t prove me wrong.

Second Guessing

“You try too hard”
“You’ve let yourself go”
These are thing people think before they even say hello,
“That dress is too short”
“That top is too low”
I just wish people would keep their opinions to themselves,
Even when people are feeling their best
Society make them think they’re being obsessed
And leave them to second guess.

The Voice

A mental illness they say
I didn’t think I was sick
It’s like another person in my head who really is a prick

It starts off so small
The little voice inside your head
But it eats your happiness until you wind up dead

This voice is getting louder
It’s shouting in my brain
It’s like every word it says can only bring me pain

Trying to ignore it
Think of it as background noise
But the more I have noticed the more it destroys

I feel like I’m drowning
And nobody sees
I just hope no one around me gets this damn disease

They say ask for help
As if that’s easy
Everytime I rehearse those lines it makes me feel uneasy

The mental illness they say
Let’s take it day by day

I WISH I COULD

I wish I could be free
I wish I could give the school system the knee
I wish life in school wasn’t so blan
Maybe I’ll go on a trip with the boys to Japan
I wish that when I went home I could relax and be glad
But then I’m reminded it might just be as bad
I wish I could curl up with a good show
And not have to suffer another school blow

Love is war

Everyone wants it more and more
You try and seek
Until you succeed
You are winner
When you don’t need timer
It’s just you and him
And that’s complete

This Light

I sent you this lamb for bringing in cows
With a torch blown out in the no sense
Where I am someone from space sent
You, this light be very clear
it won’t be long cover in dirt.

I know my life isn’t that hard

but I still struggle sometimes
I don’t need to be compared
I don’t need to be crizised
I don’t need to feel bad
about how I’m feeling
even if it might look like
my life’s not that hard

Sick of it

I’m so sick of always portraying what being a good daughter is. If I wanna go have fun they have to know my location on Snapchat, they always make sure it’s on. Sometimes I feel like I don’t have any freedom because my Dad lets me do things but my mom doesn’t, so there’s always one of them that is annoyed. In school I feel the need to do worse than I can do. For example my results would be bs and cs when I put in the wrong answer because coming out with all A’s all the time seems “uncool” and I try to fit in as best I can. My dad knows what I can achieve when I want and he doesn’t understand why I do it so he gets mad when I don’t do as well as I should be. Then my mom is happy because she doesn’t know my full potential. With our bodies we need to stop giving into societies idea of an ideal body. Nobody is the same we are all a different race, size, shape. So when people say you shouldn’t wear this or look like that, don’t listen that’s their idea of what you should look like. If you wear or look like what they think you should someone else is going to say you should look different, so stop giving into what people are saying no matter what not everyone is going to be happy so do what makes you happy and makes you feel confident and comfortable because that’s the main thing.

Art is my life,

it makes me so happy,
It makes my world shine
My pencil on the paper, scribbling away
Drawing my stress and making them go away.
Sometimes I wonder, why i even keep going?
Its because I have art, art is what makes me, me.
If I never knew that art was a thing,
I think I would be nothing but waste.

My Muse

When i picked it up for the first time,
The sparkle in my eye,
The excitement rushing to the tips of my fingers,
When i plucked the first string
I knew it was mine,
I found my muse.

Programmed

We are only taught what is profitable for us to know
to be a cog in the machine
how to benefit the ones in power
We only are in school to be taught not to think.

Roses are red

Violets are blue
Theres a knock on the door
Man run, They’re comin for you

Shades out the back
He throws the gear in his pack,
jump that wall, leg it dont fall
told his mam he’d make it home for dinner
told his olders he was abouta be a winner

live free or die tryin thats what hes about
hears a roar from behind him and his heart floods with doubt