Don’t trust Skies of Grey or Blue
Don’t trust Life and don’t trust Death
Don’t trust Following Your Breath
Don’t trust Buddha; don’t trust God
Don’t trust Your Lousy or Hot Bod
Don’t trust Pride and don’t trust Shame
Don’t trust the Cock and Pussy Game
Don’t trust Gay and don’t trust Straight
Don’t trust Love and don’t trust Hate
Nor Attachment nor Aversion
Nor Indifference (That’s the Worst One)
Don’t trust Body; don’t trust Mind
Don’t trust Leave-It-All-Behind
Don’t trust Thin and don’t trust Fat
Don’t trust Neither-This-Nor-That
Don’t trust Painful Memory
Don’t trust “I need Therapy”
Don’t trust You don’t—Perhaps You do
Don’t trust They All are helping You
Don’t trust Scientists or Reason
Don’t trust Wise Philosophies an’
Don’t trust Vajrayana, Zen
Don’t trust Barbie—don’t trust Ken
Don’t trust Sober; don’t trust Drugs
Don’t trust Family and Hugs
Don’t trust Dollars, Pesos, Francs
Don’t trust John O.’s Asshole Pranks
Don’t trust Rinzai; don’t trust Soto
Don’t trust Dorothy or Toto
Don’t trust Those Behind the Curtain
Don’t trust Teachers—They’re All Hurtin
“So, What can I trust?” You ask
Answering’s a Hopeless Task
But John O.'s a Hopeless Dude
Here’s His Answer, Rhymed and Crude:
Find Some Way to Concentration
Maybe try Some Meditation
You’ve Six Senses—Learn to Mind ‘em
Now turn Mind to Look Behind ‘em
What You find still can't be Trusted
If You name It—Whoah! You’re Busted!
You might think that It is You
That’s a Thought You can’t trust too
What You can’t find, don’t trust either
Just relax and take a Breather
Let It move You, let It weave You
Let It groove You, let It breathe You
Let It mind You, let It live You
Let It find You and forgive You
In Dharamsala or El Paso
Don’t forget: You’re still an Asshole!
Don’t think It’s not He or She
Don’t think It’s Both or Either, please,
Don’t try not to think You’ve found It
But, Jeez, don’t form a Cult around It
Don’t say, “It’s Good!” Don’t say, “It’s Bad!”
Don’t let It make You Happy, Sad
Or In-Between, but let It thrill You
Let It hurt You—let It kill You
I bow down to All Paranoids. I bow to You, Dear Reader.
Love to All,
John O.
I bow down to All Paranoids. I bow to You, Dear Reader.
Love to All,
John O.
I am nothing and neither are you
ReplyDeletetogether we make zero minus two
Ah, I bow in return.
John's schizoid personality
ReplyDeletemakes it zero minus three
Thanks for the comment, Ellen!
- John O.
Who you calling paranoid? And what do you mean by that? Who wants to know? Why all the bowing? Do I look fat in this?
ReplyDeletestop chasing thoughts
ReplyDeletethere is a caesura after the second line in the twelfth stanza that lasts all kalpas and contains all dharmas...before and after that it's all commentary...
ReplyDeletethanks for the heads up, Greg!
- john o.
"One is on a lonely mountain peak with no track to go down, one is at the middle of a busy crossroad and cannot move forward or back; of these two, who is further on, who lags behind?"
ReplyDeleteRinzai