I’ll write with pen again
Not the all thumbs tippity-tap
Not the save and delete
Just the notebook. The sheet.
I’ll write with pen again
Cos I miss the focus
The tactile notion pen to paper create.
I’ll write with pen again
But will have to type it later
(but will have to type it in the end)
Author Archives: martinoregan
Something fishy ’bout this
Halkakas
Quick eat to café atmosphere
The place offers promise from without, a café style interior on entering, and fish on the menu. Tucked snugly on a corner along Veres Pálné utca one could almost pass by but and just by chance I was steered there on tripping out the stationery shop door on the opposite side of the street. As I had been lurking the district for some grub and yet was sure a street food burger would just spiritually rape me, the promise of fish spelt miraculous.
So picking a seat and forcing myself to be accepted as legit to the many eyes that looked up from their array of soups and other such dishes, I grabbed myself a menu and started to pave my glory.
Good selection of different fish dishes
First off the selection of fish dishes was impressive and while I worked my way through the Hungarian double taking on the “halburger” questioning its spelling, I was intrigued to find fish and chips tucked away in among the rest on offer and not a stand out, stand alone as if to play the signature dish!
I finally settled on the misspelt ‘hal’burger hoping that in fact it wasn’t a type-o and why should it be, it was a fish joint and not a burger of beef gaff. Still to be satiated in times of fussiness can lead to disaster so I grabbed myself a Foti Pils* to sip on while bracing myself for what was to come.
A fish burger I ordered and a fish burger I got, most flavorful, most delicious. The juices that flowed didn’t sog the burger buns but did leave me wishing to mop it up off the plate. Still being as full as I was that might have been unadvisable. The chips accompanying it were pre-salted and while this usually yields a common quib of mine this time I had no complaints. The potatoes were cut well and were proportionately tasty, something I never say!
Prices match quality and in down town
What often gets my goat is the nonsense pricing that comes with difference and/or quality and whereas 2000huf may not be cheap in some people’s books, for what I ate and where I ate it, downtown, I would say it was on the balance a great deal. That I didn’t even need to eat again to any degree for the rest of the day (I ate here at around noon) is testimony to the depth of this good feed. Other fast food places may claim half the price but most have none of the quality, you can be damned sure.
The Others
As I was there I noticed a regular flow of what I’d describe as the young business folk lunching from small offices around so it never feels like brokersville, but from a business point of view very sustainable.
Friendly helpful patient staff
It’s counter service so tracking a menu was a flamboyant affair, me being flustered by the street and a clock that was running, but sitting and acquiring said menu, skipping past the temptation of ye olde fish N’s chips, jumping to the counter to order, doubling back twice, once for my wallet, another time for a peek at the beer menu, I never felt I, nor the girl serving were under any pressure. Her calm was infectious, perhaps. Could have used that when I was working in a bar. The guy who served up the plate, the chef or the cook, engaged professionally, being a busy man he still nodded acknowledgement, and listened without foothopping to my compliments as I was leaving.
Amen
© TheHairyTeacher2017
I once dreamt
I once dreamt of something else
Not realizing it was somebody
And even when it became clear
I could never have said it was you!
It was only when I laid eyes upon you
That I realized in you my dream
All the darkness
Greyness
Light
Defined themselves in you.
© TheHairyTeacher2016
Baptismal
(Baptismal)
A perch , a woollen brow
Set on the hills above me now.
The weather’s turned
The sun gone in
The darkness comes and with it rain.
A fresh beginning, a wash of sins,
Trickling away… Into nothing.
© TheHairyTeacher2016
Failing to sleep
(Note: to be read as a series of three word poems and/or as a complete one.)
Failing to sleep
Not falling asleep
Coffee still working
Baby still sleeping
Waiting for work
Waiting for love
Dancing in distress
Dancing in desperation
(Dancing for joy)
(dancing for dancing)
Walking with wonder
Walking alone again
Drinking alone again
Baby crying again
Hope is everywhere
Hope is nowhere
Up the stairs
Down the stairs
Holding my baby
Crying in shadows
Tears stop falling
Tears building up
Tears falling down (down)
Eyes looking up
Eyes on me
Eyes on you
Walking away again
Meeting up again
Failing to start
Four more years
Waiting on updates
Previously on Lost
No network connection
Network connection lost
No new taxes
Never say never
(Say it again)
Just do it
Don’t do it
I dare ya!
Up and down
Round and round
‘ No’ is news ?
Sugar free options
Sugar free choice
Sugar free sugar
When friendship dies
No new emotions
No more friends
Waiting for another
Drinking with strangers
Talking to shadows
(talking to trees)
Listening without listening
Speaking without words
Smiling from inside
Smiling for lies
Smiling for treats
Smiling for money
No smiles anymore
Another beauty passes
Another chance passes
(another one passed)
Another day tomorrow
Another night alone
An extra pillow
An empty cot
A discarded rattle
A father’s warning
A parent’s blessing
A last goodbye
A jealous heart
Love lives here
Love from afar
Love unspoken lost
Faint heart fails
Her face remains
Her memory remains
My selfish past
My selfish steps
My soul desire
My selfish desire
Selfish not soulful
Rude not right
Drink not endearing
Rash words rush
Rash words ruin
Mother and child
I need you
I want you
I love you
I like you
I hate you
( my happy valentine)
I love hate
I love love
My heart declines
My head accepts
My soul ponders
I reflect sometimes
Look then leap
Don’t look, leap!
Shopping mall mood
More mood swings
Moody means mean
No excuses matter
No more excuses
Leave me alone
Abandoned alone angry
Green tea moments
Coffee morning choice
Coffee morning chatter
Coffee morning clucking
Reading thinking writing
Reading writing thinking
Writing reading thinking (editing)
Thinking writing reading (writers ways)
Writers write writings
Readers read readings?
Reading out loud
Reading in bed
Toilet reading times
Written In Toilet
Written On Bus
Written Without Wonder
Written To Free
Write to free
Writing to freedom
Falling to mediocrity
Dreaming of stardom (fame)
Wishes Of Women
Summer dresses shrinking
Burgers to hand
Burgers in hand
Beer and burgers
Boring Old Bed
Be More Interested
Or more interesting
Book face surface
Facebook is superficial
(Judge not less
Judge much more
Poor judgement, good
Good judgement, bad)
What is normal?
What is average?
Who really cares?
Why leave now
Never say goodbye
Flowers wither too
Life brings death
Life ends sometime
Think of worse
Optimism reverses pessimism
Pessimism negates optimism
I fell thrice
(Thrice I fell )
One plus one
No means no
No means yes?
Teach our children
Educate ourselves first
Teachers teach curriculum
Teachers teach too
Teachers are humans
Women have rights
Race is distinction
Distinction is description
Distinction is ostracism (ostracisation)
Drawing only distinctions
Bias breeds ignorance
Ignorance breeds bias
People need air
People get thirsty
People have rights
(every person bleeds)
Other people bleed
Others bleed too
Others hurt too
Only Fools Flounder
Words are human
Meaning is everything
Meaning draws meaning
My mind meanders
A river flows
A heart beats
The wind blows
The sun shines
The snows fall
Night and day
Through it all.
© TheHairyTeacher2016
Late but early
Late but early
I’m not the night but
I have defined it,
And it has chosen me.
We could never be more
Than mere acquaintances
Nor worse than torrid lovers.
It’s just we didn’t fill Hollywoodic romance
And it’s by this we do define ourselves.
© TheHairyTeacher2016
If I don’t look out
If I don’t look out now, out this window
And into the city
I’ll miss my chance and with it the night.
Orange and yellow lights sheen in across my page
They offer solace in the shadows run repetitive
And then they fail
As deep beneath all vision
The light offers no warmth
And in the vacant stuttering of the bus in wait with open doors
The engine ticking over
Taking time to let us go.
Instead it holds us to ransom
Along some distant shores…
For this is no longer Budapest
But is anywhere away from home.
Tiredness tempting
A blush presented.
Cheap Wine on tired mind
Lets fatigue run over gently
Into greater weariness
Which with time
Involves us in the whole charade
As sleep and dreams envelope
© TheHairyTeacher2016
The neighbours
The neighbours
I don’t want to speak to them
I don’t know what to say!
Is she better?
Which one?
The younger one too!?
We’ll see, as my words fail to smile.
I need all my energy for us now
And not for them.
I can paint their world with regalery
Once my own has again found stability.
First things first: Family then friends then neighbours I guess…
But who are they?
© TheHairyTeacher2016
The darker they seem
The darker they seem
With each reach inwards
Each breach of skin and trust.
The pressure, the voices, numbing into shadows along the waste, the perceived pain.
Kisses falter against the torment
Caresses run against the grain.
In the idiocy of a moment
Something matters, something dumb.
There might even be a smile
Or bare intention lost in realizing it
To look ever onwards
And never back.
The pale parade of patient doctors,
Or nervous nurses,
And all the rest.
Inside a lair of greater healing
Before e’er the morning, comes this night first.
© TheHairyTeacher2016
Back and forth
Back and forth on errand trail
The need for joy a subtle distance.
For hope itself disguised in rage
The world around now not a friend.
The silver lining wearing thin
Searching for the sun beyond.
Bit by bit a ray but then
A cloudburst too to spoil our mood.
© TheHairyTeacher2016