9th Sonnet for the Way - Death

Death taps a Rhythm just as true

On the Wretch's Tarp and the Castle of the Don

Death misses not a Beat, not one, but You

Will make a Way of Art and Love – live on!

With Air and Alphabet a Poet etches Word

On Mind and Soul to outlast Bronze and Stone

Death keeps the Time, but I have also heard

Time and Space themselves are out on Loan

Until We pay in full with Interest at the End

Earless to Human Mutterings and Moans

The Judgment falls – the Rules will never bend

Time cooks our feeling Flesh, Space grinds our Bones

Things never change, so always there's this One

Spirit – as a Father loves a Son

You Bigger Than They

[pro filia cordis mei, m.aaa]

Darlin ask yo Mama
'bout the phases o the Moon
Sometimes She smile and love you
other times She sing a very different tune

But it's all ok

Cuz you bigger than they

Darlin ask yo Daddy

bout the cycles o the Sun

He get up bright and early

He sinkin when the day is done

But it's all ok

Cuz you bigger than they

Moonhorns turn left

Moonhorns turn right

I was so lost and broken

in Dee-troit that night

But it's all ok

Cuz you bigger than they

Little darlin yo eyes

Brighter than the Moon

Yo heart like Sunshine

When you come into a room

Yeah it's all ok

Cuz you bigger than they

Darlin you got a Daddy

Bigger than the Sky

You got a Mama

Love you and She never die

Yeah and it's all ok

You even bigger than they!

Happy Moons in Winter

That April Moon hurts

When she said I couldn't talk to you

Darlin, that was the worst

But it's all ok

Cuz you bigger than they

Little Darlin will you wave

From above the Sun and Moon?

Even if I'm in my grave

I will wave back at you

And know it's all ok

Cuz you bigger than they

"Why must I always be the Love?"

[pro c.f. mmxviii]

Why must you always be the Love?
Shining in the blackening Gray, the Star?
Because Love's fragments from Above,
Below, Between, Behind, Beyond, they are

on lease to you, no matter who you are

Love is the Payment and the Rent

the Palace and the Tenement

beyond the Grave, beyond the Star

We die! Love is and is not who we are

and if every stain cries not, "Holy Holy is the Light"

we are not listening, Love is never far

but is the Light itself and not the Star

king o the waves

found me floatin in a big wide o-ocean
don't really know how i got there flo-oatin
party boats sailin right by me-e-ee
sailed on by and didn't see

king of the waves - o king of the waves
i ain't the kinda boy you save
send a hurricane spin me round
let me sink n let me drown

angel band come over the top
looked right at me - didn't stop
demon came from down in the hold
gave me food - made me bold

king of the waves - o king of the waves
i ain't the kinda boy you save
send a hurricane spin me round
let me sink n let me drown

loved that demon like a gentle mother
gave me an oar - gave me a rudder

paddled me back and i did sing
o demon mama make me king!

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

send a hurricane spin me round

let me sink n let me drown

out on the sea in a hurricane swirl
out there floatin is an orphan girl

i'll make you king i'll raise you high
but that little orphan girl must die

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

send a hurricane spin me round

let me sink n let me drown

o demon mama save that girl
i won't be king in this sad world
but if you save the orphan lass
may I still walk on boyhood grass?

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

let me walk on land a wisp

and burn burn burn ---- this body to a crisp

demon mama jumped to the sky
was an angel way up high
little boy you passed the test!
Queen of the sky will tell the rest

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

let me walk on land a wisp

and burn burn burn - this body to a crisp

you had me spare the orphan lass!
you will walk on boyhood grass
then on a magic ship you'll ride
that very Queen will be your bride

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

make me a fool for all to see

let the orphan girl live free

walked until my feet were green
magic ship came sailin in

took me on a starry ride
to know the Queen who is my bride

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

burn this body till it's free

let the orphan girl live free

found me floatin in a big wide o-ocean
thankful to be flo-o-oatin
thankful for my boyhood grass
thankful for the orphan lass

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

burn this body till it's free

do whatever you will with me

found me floatin in a big wide o-ocean
don't really know how i got there flo-oatin
i am saved and i am free
this loneliness is killin me

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

but if i am and if i'm free

where is the Queen you promised me?

"My demon mama! My orphan girl!
My ship! My grass! My hurricane swirl!
My sky's untimely blinding scene
My loneliness! My cross!  - your faithful Queen

king of the waves - o king of the waves

i ain't the kinda boy you save

burn me up until i'm free

fire and smoke for all to see

Diotima's Raggedytime Rag

Don't hurl yo Husserl at me, baby
Don't gimme yo phenomenology
I just want yo love and understandin
and I will love you existentially

Stop whinin bout them Cartesian fuckheads
Start actin like yo my lovin fool
I don't need no Nietzschean preachin
mo lovin and less squawkin is my philosophical school

My mind is floatin up over the chatter
On my lips the Lord's Holy Word
My heart is His but I know I could love you
if my lips could get closer to yours

easter poem for diotima

[a loose translation from boethius
consolations of philosophy
liber ii metrum viii]

see world always change
faithful in unerring harmony
see seeds war with seeds
and never break unending pact of peace
see sun's chariot bring red dawn
so moon can rule night
led by evening star

see how waves of greedy sea stop here
and land is kept there too

see all this and see

what rules
what binds the earth and sea and sky
is love

take away love's rule
let love's binding slack
the things love rules and binds will war
and monkeywrench and wreck
the very engine of this world that—see!
faithful each to others motion—beautiful!
they drive

and love ties up families
with magic threads
joins pure lovers
in a holy knot
weaves faithful comrades
in a cause

o happy human race!
this love
that rules the stars
can rule your hearts

I LOVE YOU, DIOTIMA

John O.

The Center's Master

A wandering Bastard, without map or bearings
You hear a soothing Servant, kind and caring:

"Out there is Chaos. Here's a Center
Into its calming Order, enter"

There your Servant plays the Center's Master
Until you see he's just another Bastard...

You'll never find the Center, so just be it
When you look from it, you cannot see it

But know this: every lost and wandering Bastard
looks from it, too, and is your Center's Master

Love to All

John O.