Here's a poem I wrote about Sinead O'Connor. As you all know, she is a celebrity and musician that meant something to me. I shared this with my writer's group and they liked it.
Ode to Sinead O'Connor
The good always die young
gone like a vapor
Truth tellers are made to pay
"Fight the real enemy"
They were guilty and you knew it
Centuries of Oppression in Ireland
slaves in those Magdalene Laundries
Tis the life in the Irish peat houses
Some priests ate steak while the
street urchins starved
Landru and Oz agreed the lives
of the poor would be meagre
but wealth came through beauty bold
as it were.
You chose Mandinka trails
of liberation
You knew the emperor wore no clothes
and lied.
"No Man's Woman",
You owned yourself with
the Rastafarian seeing
the divine in "I am"
Lion and Cobra battling it out
Tooth claw and scale
and years of struggle
You sang "Never Grow Old"
and it happened anyway.
Siren Songs with voice rising as smooth
polished beacon
The keening transformed into the sounds
at the heavenly gates
Some are born forsaken
the most gifted are not loved
"Under his wings you found refuge"
The NPCs failed the test
with the angel in the midst
bringing deliverance
Those with no candle lit inside
try to snuff other's out.
They plan wars, plagues and
destruction.
The notes reach the skies through
the prison bars
"Dance before the war"
You felt among the unfeeling
"they cut out your heart, you refuse to feel"
You had babies you lost, your "twin soul"
they took away from you, sons stolen in
courts of despair
leading to endless grief and loss
Being unable to adapt to a sick society
brings forth judgement
soul-piercing voice to cut it all down
Seeking God in different guises and religions
demanding a god of love
in this vale of tears.
Your blue eyes stared them down
Your talent too much for this world
refusing to be silenced.
Real poets and artists running from the
pain, refusing the illusions
They do not shut down and conform
Your free soul rose above it's cage
The Menagerie is not enough and
never will be.
Maybe fame had too high of a price
at the costs they demand
The hive mind expects same-ness
and compliance
The chains of Babylon grow heavier and heavier.
"Fire on Babylon, oh yes a change has come"
Soon the match will be struck.
Seeking love in the rainy park
You deserved to have
instead of homelessness and derision
not just honors in death but in life.
You were a gift to the world.
God was your songwriter.
Hi Peeps,
ReplyDeleteSuch an awesome peom! It's nice you were able and inspired to write it, so many details about her life, songs, and what she stood for. I know she would appreciate it and the aknowledgement it brings. Something that was sorely missing in her life.
I say this now, having looked into her some. I was just leaving the States as she was becoming popular. I do remember "nothing compares to you" and her amazing voice. But I had packed up some older, more reliables, at the time. Some were casettes, some cd's. My "boombox" played both, as this was right when they were converting from one to the other. I had SS on that box too, so we were able to hear radio from all over the world, which involved mostly talk shows and some music too.
I listened to the songs you made reference to here in quotations. She definately had the voice of an angel, which is ironic, since she said she felt like she had to "sing her way into heaven". She didn't feel she was worthy otherwise. This, her mother's doing, making her repeat over and over how "she was nothing!" What a cruel woman! I hope she gives her a swift kick in the balls when she "sees her again" though I doubt they will be meeting up in the same place!
She said her mother used to kick her in the ovaries! Used to put her foot on her abdomen and press as hard as she could. Said she would even answer the phone in the middle of it, and talk in a normal voice, like nothing was happening. Evil!
She said she "forgave" her mother, and tried to get her sister to do the same, but she wouldn't. The sister was right here at least, the woman didn't deserve it. I don't believe in forgiveness for the unrepentant either. What's the point, unless it is to release oneself from the imprisonment of growing bitter. I wouldn't call that forgiveness, but letting it go.
I do think she meant she really forgave her. She wanted to "be in her arms again," she said. How awful and so terribly sad! And that is why that woman is EVIL, to have treated such a sensitive and loving child this way.
Said the day her Dad left, her mother moved the kids into a greenhouse in the back garden. She said she would not speak of the abuse she gave her brothers and sister's, because that was theirs to tell, if they wished. So respectful of others, she deserved it for herself.
She apparently had a breakdown after a histerectomy (spelling?) surgery, most likely due to her mother's wishes coming true and all that being brought up.
I'll bet she kept her voice a secret from her mother, knowing she would try and find a way to desroy that too.
I'm sure if there is a heaven that she made it there. I hope she feels LOVE ETERNAL and is finally at PEACE.
Sorry for your loss and sadness, Peeps.
Chelle
Hi Chelle, I hope she is at peace too, Im glad you liked
Deletemy poem too. She did deal with extreme abuse, and seems her romantic relationships went badly where the exs took her kids away. Glad you listened to her songs, I had some old ones back to the 1980s mentioned. She wasn't as famous anymore, became kind of a "cult" figure in USA in later years though I think most older people recognized her name from the 1990 hit record. Yes she had the voice of angel. So much taken for granted. I remember her saying she had to sing her way to heaven. Her mother seemed severe even for cruel would be narcissistic, sociopathic mothers, she got one of the worse, what a monster. I think they would have gone to very different places. Hope she was able to see Shane again and other loved ones that were good to her. Yeah her mother used to kick her, I read about that too, really sick stuff, that woman should have been in prison. Probably a family of other enablers and abusers too.
What a cruel woman! I hope she gives her a swift kick in the balls when she "sees her again" though I doubt they will be meeting up in the same place! I relate to the raging monster mother who is sweet as pie when the phone rings and answers it with a smile.
I think Sinead took too seriously the "forgive and forget" stuff, it messed her up more. I consider mine wicked reprobates, I don't have to forgive, just stay away from. Often that forgive stuff I have written about diminishes the abused person just sets them up for worse, not realizing the true nature of the people being dealt with. Hope the sister moved on. I even forgave mine in the early days of Christian faith, but got my ass roasted for it. I just became a bigger doormat. I believe forgiveness for the unrepentant is wrong and against God. Sure some will even be preaching forgive Dr. Mengele snake troll Fauci one day. Yes avoid bitterness, maybe I failed on that one a bit, but go get your own new life as best as u can. Sinead was giving to the world, I got the feeling even with her fame and talents, she never felt like she was "enough". It is a shame. Maybe she was imagining being in the arms of a loving mother. If I had mine show up ready to hug me in the afterworld I'd run like hell or hide behind a cloud. LOL I think that woman is a monster honestly. There's a point where they choose to be evil. I wonder if any of her siblings have talked about their childhood, a sizeable number suppress it or go into denial or become abusers themselves. I wonder what happened after the hysterectomy, there could be severe depression even from the hormonal changes. PCOS hormones did very bad stuff but that would even worse. Instant menopause too instead of a gradual decline. I wonder too if she kept the singing a secret from her mother. I may want to reread her autobiography again, our library has it, reading with things I later learned. Thanks Chelle.
.
P.S. Peeps,
ReplyDeleteNot that it matters as to Sinead, but I said boombox had SS (single sideband) radio, but it was SW (shortwave radio).
I've heard you read this to me, of course, but I enjoyed seeing it in cold print, which makes for a slightly different experience. I remember how much you talked about her influence when we met -- I honestly hadn't kept major track of what she'd been doing lately, but I was impressed about how strongly you felt.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's funny, considering the fallout of all the sex abuse scandals, just how right she was -- people gave her so much shit for tearing up the Pope's picture on SNL, only to grow cricket silent when the floodgates opened up, and all the bad stuff started pouring out. It's especially interesting, in light of how hard she seemed to try and avoid being sexualized as an artist herself, which was another aspect of her that I liked, and appreciated. Love her or not, she always struck to her own path, which your writing captures quite well, I think. --Mr. Peep