Phil Lynch – Mission Statement

Lynch profile Dec 2020

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Live Encounters Poetry & Writing, Volume Two, December 2020.

Phil Lynch lives in Dublin, Ireland. His work has appeared in a range of literary journals and anthologies, including previous editions of Live Encounters Poetry. He has been a runner-up in a number of poetry competitions and shortlisted in others. He has performed his work at numerous poetry and spoken word events and festivals in Ireland and has also read at events in the USA, UK, Belgium and France. His poetry collection In a Changing Light (Salmon Poetry) was published in 2016.  https://www.salmonpoetry.com/details.php?ID=394&a=284.


Mission Statement

Hey prophet, what’s on your mind, why have you come,
has your mission a timeline, where are you from?

Have you come from the future or a dark past,
do you know for how long this thing is to last?

Are you a ghost, a hippie or a new poet,
a shamanic hero to keep us afloat?

I’ve followed your kind up hills and down valleys
through back streets and side streets, into blind alleys;

there were preachers and teachers, rebels and more,
I prayed at their altars, sincere to my core,

but always they proved to be nothing but frauds
who lied about truth in the names of their gods.

The holier-than-thous who act like they’re lords,
their high moral perch built on spurious words;

they come with gospels in pitch-perfect voices,
climb on their thrones to anoint their new choices,

they come to seek worship in houses of learning,
gods, self-appointed, to fill all our yearning.

No! Go propagate on Facebook or Twitter,
I won’t follow you or be a ‘like’ hitter.

Too long a follower, too often let down,
now I keep my own truth, I wear my own crown.


© Phil Lynch