Magic Touch

She touched me by my liver

and a tumor opened up and became a cavern

and a dark and shiny winged thing like an insect

flew into the night

Go gather the lost and over tattoo’d

Go hover in lamplight above the tables of the disappointed

Let your wings whirr on hot afternoons above the brokenhearted

briefly as a distraction from relentless doom

Dodge the starlings and the fruitbats in the evening

Return when I call you

I stretch out my hand

I see the sun’s reflection in insect eyes

I see the shadows of the antennae—Tiny things

How good it is to breathe and know you inside out

If you need a place to stay you have a home on my right side

Her touch works magic

Love to All,

- John O.

Diotima, My Secret Weapon

You are my Secret Weapon to dethrone the Wise
Every time You fall for Them I do remind Me
They fell for You too. Ha Ha. Where is Mind?
Not in Books or Zen or Puja
Not in Conversations with the Master
Not in Lazy Afternoons with Lover or Avoiding All

Look Inside or Outside, you'll never find It
Loop Looking round Itself—the Picture spins
Fear least the one who rests in It
Fear most the one who's found the Way

The Attainment of the Master is profound
So where does it go when he dies?
If it doesn't die why do we need him?
If it does what good is a wilting flower?

Excuse me while I sing my Precious Guru
down from the Copper Colored Mountain
The Indestructible Mind of my Kind Teacher
is the same one who thinks of this and that

The Hermitage I am given is Ordinary Mind
The Instruction I am given is Union with My Lover
The Consort I am given is Arrogant Queen
The Meditation I am given is Death and Light
The Dedication I am given is Well Being for Others

You who gaze into the Wine with Furrowed Brow
Let Me know when You want to make Love

Love to  All,

- John O.

Reply to Diotima

Diotima, to be so upbraided
by Your Wisdom is a Blessing
Your Jeweled Knife is Double-Bladed
and with more than Mind you’re messing

I asked Greg Bender’s Sage Attention
He told me, “John, heed the Dakini!”
Greg, somehow you didn't mention
publicly She’d roast my Weenie

Diotima, to call John a Loser

is to call a Fire hot

not for hottie Pick-n-Choosers

John's as you say. What else you got?

John's a Beggar not a Banker

John is Vermin—not a Pet

and to call John O. a Wanker

is to call your Water wet

John's One with the Ridiculous
(which is one with the Sublime)
One with Bed Sores, One with Pus
One with War and Toxic Slime

But through Lifetimes Dark and Dank
in Straitened Circumstances, Thankless
John O. vows that He will wank
until All Sentient Beings are Wankless!

Love to All,

John O.

Dump Truck Drivin Man

had a RadioFlyer, baby
when i was five years old
i pulled that wagon, baby
when i was five years old
knew my way to the incinerator
mostly did what i was told

got me a license, baby
been drivin since the dawn
drivin a dump truck, baby
been drivin since the dawn
i heard you say you love me
now you cry, "my shit is gone!"

you can ride shotgun, baby
but i gotta work this truck
you can even drive it, baby
but i gotta work this truck
the day they're out of garbage
is the day i'm shit out of luck

down in the dumpyard, baby
some man open up that pit
we go on down there, baby
some man open up that pit
then we pull that lever and
that gonna be the end of it

i almost always dump it, baby
but some stuff i keep a while
i try to keep it legal, baby
but some stuff i keep a while
don't say i didn't warn you
when you see that burnin pile

i've always got to love you, baby
and i know that i can
i'm always gonna love you, baby
and i know that i can
what i don't know's if you want the love
of a dump truck drivin man

love,

- john o.

Live with a Broken Heart

picked up his rig in Bakersfield

fore the sunrise hit the smog

coffee and eggs in Barstow

but his mind was still in a fog

he got up to go take a leak

he heard the country music start

and it hit him quick
like a flyin brick

he was gonna have to learn to live with a broken heart

she was laid off at the diner

cuz she didn’t like the boss’s leer

it was just the same when her husband left

she was glad when she got past the fear

she’d call her sister in LA

take the kid and get a brand new start

but now she cried
as she felt inside

she was gonna have to learn to live with a broken heart

there’s a crazy eye inside you

that can see another view

where they don’t have to poison the pigeons

and the dead are all made new

where the lion and lamb are snugglin

and you’re playin just your part

and it never ends
but here my friend

you’re gonna have to learn to live with a broken heart

love,

-  john o.

O Come and Party NOW with John O.

You who watch the Ball a droppin

You who sit yo Meditation

You who know yo Heart is stoppin

You who git yo ’Nebriation

You there with yo Partner Kissin

You about to do a Cracker

You who got no Pot to piss in

You about to get a Smacker

You Hot Tramp You Pure Nitwit

You Holy Fool Hey Nonny-Nonno

You about to eat some Shit

O Come and Party NOW with John O.

You who think you may have found it

Sittin Zazen sayin Japa

You who think you may have lost it

Gettin loaded playin Zappa

You who almost lost a digit

Reachin down somebody’s Jeans

You there tryin not to fidget

Humpin what yo Koan means

You Stuck Up Queen You Bozo You

You who go mano a mano

You kokoro wo tomeru

O Come and Party NOW with John O.

Snap yo fingers NOW is Midnight

You who know yo Mumonkan

Snap yo fingers NOW is Midnight

You who know yo Upchuck’s gone

Snap yo fingers NOW is NOW

Midnight’s gone and that’s a Fact

Snap yo fingers always NOW

NOW no matter how you act

Do yo quite UNHOLY NOWNESS

All Them Other Times is Gone-O

You don’t have to know the Howness

Come and Party NOW with John O.

Homage to the Vidyadhara

I remember when my Heart was in my Shoes

my Brain fried in the Furnace of the Damned

my Eyes were dry, my Breath stank

Sugarcoated Hatred was Breakfast Lunch and Dinner

The Bible leered at me and Krishna grimaced

everywhere I looked the Holy Ones mocked

Earth argued with Sky in World War Dreams

Priests and Monks preached “get it together”

I remember when my Thumb froze

and went up my Ass to smoke Cigarettes

Reefer and Coffee were Father and Mother

Dysfunctional Parents of Methedrine Baby

Who can really say what is

now that God no longer speaks?

not Allen or Alan and not His Holiness

not all the Sunday-suited goody-goody Bodhisattvas

Three Eyes Fangs and Skull Mala

Angry Flames riding man-eating Tiger

Laughing wicked bloodstained Laughter:

“Sit down as you are and look at Mind!”

Even me? Even MY mind is Buddha?

There is no pleasure greater than to weep

and touch my forehead to the ground

remembering your impossible Kindness

Love,

John O.