Diotima, The Guru and the Ivy Crown (revisited)

I turn to see the Perfect Woman’s face
and there instead is Lord Kalu, King of Dharma
He holds a Jewel and smiles at me at last:

“Philosophers and Scientists may seek
but ever seeking Mind is only Mind
Let Mind rest in Mind
This Stone cannot be cut
Stale bread and fine pastry 

are one to the Yogin’s tongue
Pray to the Mother of the Perfect Lineage”

I cry, “kind Master, touch me a second time!”
but He is gone—no vision lasts forever
no Pure Thing holds in an impure mind

But She in whom it’s visioned? my Pure Love?
How can She leave who’s never come to be?

Unseen Her Gaze—unending Her Vast Gesture
I am led into an evening room

What’s this? I see my Friends of Old
My Rug, the Sun and Moon, a Book
Behold! The Signs and Symbols of the Ages
The Rage of a Prisoner in a cell
Two Lovers in a Twilit Chamber
The Play of Mind in the Yogin’s Cave

You who gaze into the wine glass at the party all alone
You fervid Caffeine Seeker
Bong Hit Blower
Carrier of Tobacco’s Secret Case
You in the Elevator Incubation
You in the Cyber Drone
You Criminal
You Liar
You Lover in Your Own Embrace
You with the Acid and the Thizz
and You with the lonely TV on
You who know where the Party is
and You in the Pornographic Dawn
You Digger in the Pit of Greediness
You Sucker at the Tit of Neediness
You Killer with the Blade of Hate
You Fucker of Your Weaker Mate
You Weak Seducer of the Strong
You Quick Excuser of Your Wrong
You Harsh Definer of the Real
You Cutter of the Wicked Deal
You Gambler with Reality
You Loser of Carnality
You Bower to the idol “Brain”
You Liver in the Body’s Pain
You Stirrer of the Pot of Shit
You Lover of the Smell of It
You Warrior in the Secret Wars
You Whore and Monger of the Whores
You Shunner of the Little Child
And You shunned Baby, running wild

Come to Insight’s Crazy Carnival!
Kill Your Parents! (knife both induction and deduction)
Mind wakes to Mind at indecent intervals
Seek a wise Teacher—ask for instruction

Walk the Whole Path for others’ sake
Send joy and gather sorrow with each breath
Call on your Teacher’s Heart—let your Heart break
Meditate past the point of Death

Radiant my True Love’s face
How sad I will never see Her
My heart breaks and I call to the Daughters of the Sky:
“How kind You are to let me sing in the evening!
Please be a Refuge in every lifetime!”

“DEMONS AND GHOSTS!  LOOK HERE 
I’M CROWNED WITH IVY
YOUR MEAL is rapt in finest Linen White
Come to the Great Feast of the Witches for the Son of the King!”

Confused and tortured those who grasp at phantoms
Happy the Yogin touched even once by the Master

Use this Gem for selfish ends
Build a fire to fry in your own fat
Not even the Lord of Love can help you then


[inspired by KM and Diotima in 2010, before I did eventually see her and learn they knew each other;
published on the old Unfettered Mind Ning site and long ago on this blog, hidden under a philosophical treatise]

Crazy Bout Your Nothin

Everbody's runnin round

doin crazy things about nothin
Talkin all about it
like somethin's goin on
They all got their angles
different ways to approach it
All I got is Your nothin
to be hung up on

It's funny that way You got
of somehow disappearing
even though clearly
You always here
I was just thinkin
we might do nothin together
I been doin way too much
with You not near

Crazy thing yeah
doin nothin feel sad
make me long for everthing
I'll never see
think of the crazy times
when I went bad
but Lord, I'm alright
when You do nothin with me

All these liars
bout somethin for nothin!
sellin nothin for somethin
keepin Love on they shelf
but when You and Me Lord
do nothin together
Your Love happen everwhere
all by itself

Akasha Acres

Listen, I'll give you some directions
Forget the motor vehicle
Steer spontaneous internal combustion of Mind
Roadless off the Mountain

It's good to smell the Roses and the Coffee
Buzz with the flying things with wings
Call Ravens, Crows and Buzzards friends
But fly off alone in the Spring

On land near Laytonville closed to the Profane
A chubby guy appeared to John as the Lotus Born
He hocked a loogie out the window
He took a shower and sang a Mani

Who owns these Acres of Illusion?
Inside these Spaces of Experience
What beautiful and ugly things can't happen?
To what end? John asks, forever stupid

Kind Friend of My Heart, when your Eyes flash
I see who owns Akasha Acres
Take them anywhere you like!
And please pray for animals and John and others!

[pro rm]

Saturday Night Jesus

Right there in the Word
1st Peter 4:6
The lost souls heard
Him teachin alright
the dead bones dance and do crazy tricks
cuz Jesus goes to Hell on Saturday night

On Sundy after
the plates are piled
they fill the rafters
with prayer and light
"The Lord's in Heaven!" the crowd goes wild
but Jesus goes to Hell on Saturday night

Mundy through Fridy
they pay their bills
keepin it tidy
doin it right
Great God almighty, I feel Your will

dancin here with Jesus on Saturday night

I'm a sinner—I'm lost
like the Good Book say
my Star is crossed
and I can't make it right
I'm a loser forever—I was born this way
but Jesus comes to Hell on Saturday night

Why is Friday Good?

Why is Friday Good?
Nothing happens as it should
What is there to say?
Not much on Holy Saturday

Roll away the Stone
Nothing in the Hatch
No Flesh, no Bone
Death has met His Match

Why does Sunday burn?
Death is in the Dish
Flesh and Bone return
to cook His Fish

What do we do?
Nothing! retire
Flesh and Bone, Fish and Dish
become Fire


John O. 
Good Friday

2026

Drifting Anchoress

An anchor in the Open Sky
a vow that even I could take!
Nothing happens way up high
whether anchors hold or break
Down here she fears that she will die
The sky is closed for Heaven's sake
Your Openness, a nightmare's lie
Hell, a lover on the make
Heaven, then, a promissory note
Her stormy soul, adrift and anchorless
wet and windy, is condemned to float
a fickle Father's drifting anchoress
But when she needs an anchor now
Lord of Sky and Earth! You are her Vow

Greatest Livin Poet

Hey babe don’t walk so fast I know you gotta job and you have to move along
Just meet my gaze for a minute as you pass
And put a dollar in my hat cuz I gotta song
I gotta song about Little Bo Peep
I gotta song about the other man’s wife
I gotta song about the company you keep
I gotta song about the first man’s knife
I gotta song about a fool and his lady
He’s down on his knees cuz he had too much wine
Put a dollar in my hat, baby I gotta song
I’m the greatest livin poet on this whole subway line
Daddy was a busker down by the bay
Mama played his organ when she could
He sang for the tourists sprayed silvery gray
Mama had other jobs in the neighborhood
Daddy made me spout a pome ever day
just to get a little bit o' wine
Mama bought a ukulele told me learn how to play
I’m the greatest livin poet on this whole subway line

I gotta song about a woman with a gun

I gotta song about a dangerous creep

I gotta song about your moment of fun

I gotta song about some little lost sheep I gotta song about a fool and his lady
He’s down on his knees cuz he had too much wine
Put a dollar in my hat, baby I gotta song
I’m the greatest livin poet on this whole subway line

When the first sun hits the skyscraper top

I'm stakin a claim on the station floor

Don’t get me wrong, babe you don’t have to stop

Put a dollar in my hat, babe I won’t ask for more

But after the commutes are over I’m free

How would you like to sip moonlit wine?

How would you like to see down on his knees

The greatest livin poet on this whole subway line?

I gotta song about a brand new day

I gotta song about the company you keep

I gotta song about a woman that way

I gotta song about her little found sheep

I gotta song about a fool and his lady

He’s down on his knees cuz he had too much wine

Put a dollar in my hat, baby I gotta song

I’m the greatest livin poet on this whole subway line

Lightning Shaft

I's half dead with a nasty cough

all the warnings I blew off
at the consequences scoffed
stumbling in chains

I's told I could go my way
breathe free on another day
like a child I could laugh and play
if I'd only feel the pain

He will hurl the lightning shaft
split the beam and sink the craft
all the slaves before and aft
sing freedom's sweet refrain

When I finally feel my pain

Sweet Sweet Water

Like Noah who lived full 600 year
Lightning in my brain thunder rolling
deep behind my ear
Lord, crank up the floodgates
let springs break down crazy
we will float here
sweet sweet water
water
Lord let it rain

When Noah did gather the animals in
feathers and scales and fur were not
any kind of sin
let your springs open crazy
we need to float here
safely within
sweet sweet water
water
Lord let it rain

When the dove don't return
from dry land what then?
When that rainbow says "children, I won't ever
ever ever do that again!"
bread for the family
cultivate wine
drink living water
sweet sweet water
water
Lord let it rain

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele
She’s my best friend
Got a notion to give'er to you
when this song ends
I feel like a drifter
from a whole nother time
I sling the old lingo
I've gotta rhyme

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

 
There's a sunset in Tulsa
when I was a kid
I swear I saw somethin behind it
but they keep that all hid
We moved out to LA
where the weather was fine
and the roads all had reasons
but I think in rhyme
This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

 
I did get the offer
yeah, they just called me up
they said it’s the Big Money, baby
doin I forget what
cuz I’m always late
but this Moon is on time
their directions were clear
but they didn't rhyme

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

 
This Old Ukulele
She’s my best friend
Got a notion to give'er to you
when this song ends
the Wind is alive
the Word is on time
Her strings are dancers
and I'm gonna rhyme
This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

She’s my best friend
Got a notion to give'er to you
when this song ends
 
This Old Ukulele
This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

This Old Ukulele

Summa Etymologica

Lord, I need decluding

but I'm secluding what's included
Lord, I want including
but my occlusion gets recluded
Lord, exork from me this demonic crude rude cluding!
From what You're exuding please do not preclude me
till I'm with You in Heaven where You will forever ude me

LA Sunshine Barrels

Well the lovely mamacitas sang

and the hari hari krishnas rang

a lonesome bell up yonder on that day

I was just a stupid kid

God knows exactly what they did

when they dumped those Sunshine Barrels on LA

The secret men in the alphabets

were smoking name brand cigarettes

in the offices with views above the fray

below, the clueless dudes

were given brand new attitudes

when they dumped those Sunshine Barrels on LA

Rocket Johnny passed the night

in that double-barreled light

his right arm never made the final play

but his mental stream was rhymin

with trash cans made of diamonds

when they dumped those Sunshine Barrels on LA

The endless war was ended

the broken root was mended

I cannot say it was some other way 

sure it was a dream

but nothing was just as it seems

when they dumped those Sunshine Barrels on LA

Jesus, I'm a sinful man

I ain't doubtin you, man

it's just I got to play it as it lays

and it wasn't any jive

I saw the dead come alive

when they dumped those Sunshine Barrels on LA

Summa Theologica

El's a schlub

and here's the rub
Yah's a bloody psychopath
They will save
you for the grave
with their fiery psychowrath

But Mary, Mary
quite contrary
took them in her belly
said, oh YES!

to their whole mess
their wrath was turned to jelly

Never maybe
to a baby
not from yes-girl Mary
Her son died
was crucified
and they're no longer scary

Do you think
you can drink
from his cup and rise?
Wear that crown

drink it down
not up - down
Surprise!

Bodhi Goat Song

To the loveless gathered round

listen, I will scream and bleat a sound
by your sacrifices fed
I know where it is I'm led
but never why I am your lost and found

On this path of glory I will sing
the cruelty of gods and things
the painfulness of uncaused shame
the guiltiness of empty blame
the emptiness of endless circling

In the theater feel and kneel
listen to your manhood squeal
as I howl and shriek and die
or desert driven bleat my cry
know you too are on the Wheel

My shaggy form is Holiness's gain
my loss of blood —as if God were slain
my horned bleating is a holy rage
your spinning World ends on this bloody stage
sit still for once and know you are in vain

Infinite Bliss Piss

In the infinite bliss piss
of non-dual awareness

anything can happen
pleasure pain and goo-foo-foo!
sweaty underarms smell fragrant or foul

Ever seeking the illusion of the arcade
the cheapo chintzy thrill of this against that
I fall into the nonsense of Hell
or ascend to the sense-non of Heaven

Deep pillows are soft
marbles are hard
but the Mind of My Teacher
has never come to be
and will never pass away

From the One Greater than All the Gods

 སྲི་ལོ་༢༠༢༦ ལོ་ལ་བཀྲིས་པ་དང་དམ་ཆོས་གྲུབས་པའྲི་བར་ཆད་ཞྲི་ཞྲིང་་བསམས་དོན་ཆོས་བཞྲིན་གྲུབ་པའྲི་སོན་དུན་ཅས
This year of 2026, with aspiration of fulfilling the wishes according to the Dharma and subside all the obstacles to Dharma practice, these are the wishes of my aspiration prayer.
འཁོར་བའྲི་ཆོས་ཐམས་ཅདསྡུག་བསྔལ་རང་་བཞྲིན་ཡྲིན་པ་ལ་ཡྲིན་པར་མ་ཤྱེས་པས་རང་གཞན་་ཐམས་ཅད་འཁོར་བ་ཁམས།
The nature of all samsara is suffering. It is this way, even if we don't know it as it is. In all the samsaric phenomenon, the nature is suffering. By not knowing this, myself and others wander in the cycles of existence.
ག་ཞྲིག་ཆོས་པ་ཡྲིན་ཁུལ་་བྱེད་ཀྱང་་ཆོས་མཚུལ་བཞྲིན་དུ་བྱེད་མ་ཐུབ་པ་ང་དང་
Someone pretending to be a Dharma practitioner is not yet able to practice according to Dharma - they are not able to carry the Bardo as a path to liberation and can only wander in samsara.
ངའད་བ་མང་པོ་ཞྲིག་་བར་དོ་ལ་ཆོས་ལམ་དུ་མ་འགོ་བ་འཁོར་བ་ལས་མཐར་མ་ཐུབ་པ་རྣམས་ལ་སྱེམས་སོ་བའྲི་ཆད་དུ་གླུ་ཆུང་འདྲི་བླངས་སོ་།
Many of them like me are not able to liberate from Samsara, so I sing this little song to encourage us to be aware of the situation which will happen, sooner or later.
 ༄། སངས་རྒྱས་ཀུན་དངོས་་རོར་་རྱེ་་འཆང། དུས་གསུམ་སངས་རྒྱས་མྲི་གཟུགས་ཅན།

Vajradhara is the essence of all Buddhas. The three times Buddhas manifested in human form.
ཀ་དག་་ཆོས་སྐུ་འྲི་་ཀོངས་ཡང་ལས། གགས་མྱེད་ཐུགས་རྱེ་རྩལ་ཆྱེན་རོགས།
From the infinite luminosity, the Dharmakaya is pure from the beginning – Guru with unimpeded, completely perfected great skill of Compassion:
སྐལ་མྱེད་ལས་ངན་ང་འད་ལ། ཐུགས་རྩྱེ་་ཆྱེན་པོ་གཟྲིགས་སུ་གསོལ།
In this unfortunate kalpa, filled with all  these negative karmic people like me, I supplicate you to look at us with your skillful compassion.
ཚི་འདྲི་དང་བར་དོ་་ཕྲི་མགསུམ། མྲི་ང་ལ་རྱེ་ས་ཁྱེད་ལས་མྱེད་།
In this life, the Bardo and the following life, these three, I have no hope other than you.
འདྲིར་འདུས་་བུ་སོབས་དད་ཅན་རྣམས་། གསལ་འདྱེབ་མོས་གུས་གྲིས་བསྐུལ་ནས།
Devoted disciples who are gathered here, we beseech with supplication, yearning and devotion.
ལོ་སར་གྲིས་བརྱེན་བྱེལ་དྱེ་གས་མཆོག ཆོས་བཞྲིན་གྲུབས་པ་དོན་མྲི་ཟ།
May this Auspicious New Year be excellent! Do not have any doubt that you can accomplish according to the Dharma.

རྒྱལ་ཁམས་་མྱུལ་བའྲི་མྲི་རྒན་བློ་གོས་་ནས་རང་ལ་ཆོས་་བྱེལ་ཡོད་པའྲི་སོབས་ཕྲུགས་་རྣམས་ལ་སྱེང
Composed by the old man wandering between different countries by the name of Lodru, I am sending this to you students with a Dharma connection to me.

Red River Bridge

Nothin really seemed out of place

just me and my ride and the wide open space
and the thought of her smile
when the whole thing was done

In the blink of an eye, it didn't take long
I thought I went right, maybe I shoulda gone wrong
but the road looped around, I don't know what I did
All the signs said things were fine
but the only ride on that road was mine
I got lost on that Red River Bridge

There was no way to turn my ride
for a second I thought somethin inside of me died
but I had no choice—I did what I did
the lights behind me were fading
the ones in front of me waiting
I had crossed on that Red River Bridge

I saw a phone booth by a sign
man, I ain't seen one of them in a long long time!
I stopped to call my baby, tell her what I did
I said honey, I'm late comin home
She said, I can hear lonely comin right through the phone
you got lost on that Red River Bridge

American Highway, roll forever

cuz Forever's where I'm goin

I'm gonna cross that old Red River

till you roll me to my Home

I said, gal, I'll be back in a while
She didn't say nothin, but I could hear her smile
I said, I got my ride turned around, I know what I did
I'll be back before too long
I thought I went right, maybe I shoulda gone wrong

I'll get back cross that Red River Bridge

The signs were confusing as hell
I stopped for the night in a Dallas motel
and I asked this girl at the bar how I did what I did
she said, Oklahoma's at your back
you're in Texas, that's a fact
you got lost on that Red River Bridge

Well I called my gal next day
From some dive in Santa Fe
She didn't pick up, but she smiled, I know she did
that gal smiles bright as day
I will call her from LA
I got lost on that Red River Bridge

American Highway, roll forever

cuz Forever's where I'm goin

I'm gonna cross that old Red River

till you roll me to my Home

Sonnet for the Illuminous

Some confuse the New Moon with the Bright
but refuse their True Moon ever to consult
Some live in safely Luminous Night
and call Truth's dangerous Daylight "the Occult"
Some call their little fragments Wholeness
while fragging Memory to pure Morass
Some call their Weak Defenses their Great Soulness
while they whip poor Balaam's precious Ass
Some call their use of others "Sacrifice"
Friends are Shafts — Enemies are Staffs
Some are only nice to get The Nice
but John? he watches waits... and laughs

That Brooding Silence bought by scorning
might pray in darkness — but can't talk in the morning

fuck off, demons

 “mortal, but once we enjoyed the masquerade
  now we see clearly, all things perishing”

                          - the vidyadhara, chökyi gyatso 

listen up, john, you stupid motherfucker
go ahead
go beat your stupid head against your stupid wall

everywhere children die of your idiot compassion
eyeless in Gaza?
you wish, you bleeding bag of gas

confess
you murdered your dad
and slept with your mom
you plotted extermination of jews and palestinians
soccer moms and bankers
masters of war
your ex-wives' lovers and therapists
and your own pathetic heart

meditating à l'ermitage du ressentiment
on the Guru of Revenge
you made this whole charade up, pal

live in it

but in the real hermitage he gave me with a smile
my Teacher laughs:

“gather the six senses and offer them to Me
I will conquer the ugly heart of America
your ugly heart, john
tsokdruk rangdrol
I will turn the bloody gaze of your 5 Eyes backward”

fuck off demons

 
       - tsokdruk rangdrol
                  aka
         crazy stoner john

I bow down to the Lord of the Universe

I bow down to YOU my dear friends and enemies

I bow to everyone like you who has ever lived or ever will
I bow to your reactive patterns
I bow to your distractions
I bow to your emotions and complex thoughts and stories
I bow to your dream of a permanent happy self
I bow to the knots in your stomach, the choking in your throat
I bow to the contraction in your heart
I bow to the tears in your eyes
I bow to your anger, your hunger without end
I bow to your stupidity, your busy silly life
I bow to your fearful arrogance and blissed out pride
I bow to you who know them all

I bow down to the Lord of the Universe!
the Hermaphroditic King and Queen of Great Compassion
with as many faces as the Stars
as many arms as the rays of the Sun

Please look here!
I wander the Six Realms
lost and confused with my enemies and friends
Please let me never forget them!

When you place Your Certainty in the soles of my feet
let me never forget we are hesitant, doubtful and indecisive

When you nest in the Palace of Bliss in my loins

let me never forget we are pained, frustrated and obsessed

When you take your Seat of Power and satisfaction in my gut

let me never forget we are hungry, weak and helpless

When you sit on the warm Flower of Peace and Love in my heart

let me never forget we are angry, bitter cold and resentful

When you sing the Angelic Chorus in my throat

let me never forget we are hoarse, tongue-tied and stupid

When you gaze from the Not-Two Eye of insight in my forehead

let me never forget we are duped by division and decision

When you open the Clear Sky above my forehead

let me never forget I must stay here with my enemies and friends

Radiant Lord, Kind Heart of my Teacher
once more I touch my forehead to the ground
Please visit me here
please look on us all with your eyes of Love
and please grant your Grace
that I might live and die for the benefit of others

OM MANI PADME HUNG

[edited from The Universal Bow for my own daily practice. - john o.]