Union Parade

Marching

We are marching

We are marching on this Brand New Day

Marching

HEY!

Come join the Union!

March in the Union Parade

Uncle John came and
He got the Children dancing
Then he lifted up his Hands
Time for the Children
To link Arms together
March with the Union Band

I was a Slave

I was livin on my Knees

Master commanded—I obeyed

Now I'm a Free Man

Born to the Union

I march in the Union Parade

Marching

We are marching

We are marching on the Stones We Laid

Marching

HEY!

Come join the Union!

March in the Union Parade

I was a Handmaid
of a Cruel Mistress
Master had me on a whim
Now I'm a Free Woman
Born to the Union
No Mistress or Master again

You don't need no Uniform
You don't need no Union Card
Your Dues have already been paid
When you know you hurt
Like every other Beatin Heart
You march in that Union Parade

Marching
We are marching
We are marching on this Brand New Day
Marching
HEY!
Come join the Union!
March in the Union Parade

Love to All,

- John O.

Dry Underpass

this bridge is quiet
there ain't a truck for miles
and a cold rain
is startin to fall
guess i'll duck in here
stay dry for awhile
stop and think
about it all

and then i feel it
pressin on my ribs
the way an iron
press a curl
i am alone
i am alone
i am alone in this world

couple broken two-by-fours
maybe make me a fire
can't see no harm
in gettin warm
lean my back against
this throwed away tire
sit me out
another storm

you know i feel it
bustin through my ribs
the way a hammer
smash a pearl
i am alone
i am alone
i am alone in this world

buncha busted bottles
and i don't even care
the way they ruin
that soft grass
might bust one myself
cuz i can hardly bear
the quiet
of a dry underpass

because it hit me
right between my ribs
the way a bullet
waste a squirrel
i am alone
i am alone
i am alone in this world


Love  to All,

- John O.

The Way

a bird in the hand ain’t worth shit when you die

open that hand and let that bird fly

he might build a nest on your window sill

he might bring you gold in his little black bill

there was space in my bottle and space all around

you broke my bottle and i heard that space sound

sweepin up the pieces was just like a dream

i even heard love in that blood-curdling scream

well i’m goin back to my no longer home

where the park’s got the buffalo and the derelicts roam

i ain’t got nothin but i’m richer than croesus

crazier than trungpa—kinder than jesus

and i’m comin back here with monopoly money

to leave in your temple cuz i love you honey

old poets don’t die—they just have their say

and fade in your arms and that’s just the way

Love to  All,

-  John O.

Heart of Gold

everybody shoved you

the way you didn’t want to be shoved

and nobody’s gonna love you

the way you want to be loved

yo mama she was loony

she was selfish she was cruel

and yo daddy was a loser

and a dipstick and a tool

and it’s three thousand miles to that city by the bay

there’s at least ten airplanes that leave everyday

and the people on the plane are just as crazy as you

and the world is gonna end

but that’s no reason to be blue

hey hey hey you got a heart of gold

say say say i got a heart of gold

heart of gold

heart of gold

i got me a heart of gold

listen to me child 

are you stupid? are you daft?

long before she got you

yo mama got the shaft

and yo daddy had a mama

and she was shafted too

and the slaves slaved and the children cried

but that’s no reason to be blue

the whips cracked and the wars raged

it was awful fearsome bad

and the animals were all caged

but that’s no reason to be sad

hey hey hey you got a heart of gold

say say say i got a heart of gold

heart of gold

heart of gold

i got me a heart of gold


Love to All,

-  John O.

The Fat Lady (Finally) Sings

Mercy Mercy Myriads

Though My Love is Nihilation

In My Arms Have You not Had

Promise of Regeneration?

Pitted in My Belly's Center

There's a Godforsaken Hell

From the Center of That Center

Come My Children—All is Well

Trailing Out and then Returning

You will Yearn and Fall for It

For You Yearn to Cease Your Yearning

All Things Want Their Opposite

Birth Wants Death as Pain Wants Pleasure

Good Wants Evil—Period

Find in Each the Other's Measure

Mercy Mercy Myriads

(From the Mister Bones Doggone Versations, a Mystery Play)

Love to All,

- John O.

Blade Bloom (For Diotima)

There Lightless in the Threatening Shade

A Frightened Lotus knows no Blade

There Shadeless in the Hateful Light

A Blade knows only Bloomless Fright

See the Blade cut way the Brambles

See Her Root—It weaves and rambles

As Her Bloom unfolds Each Petal

From and to the Sharpened Metal

Now the Flower knows no Fright

Knowing Power in the Light

Now the Blade gives up All Power

Knowing All is in The Flower

Love to All,

- John O.

Path of No Desire

Mostly I desire indulgence

And respond with quick repression           

But repression lacks effulgence

And I feel a deep depression

So I ease repression’s clasp

Give desire some slight expression

In a jiffy I will grasp

Onto some absurd obsession

No obsession is complete

Without somebody to obsess with

I’m too proud to whine and bleat

so it’s mostly me I mess with

till I, righteously and smugly,

find a crowd to be a pest with

their desires are fucking ugly

and it’s them I am obsessed with

Once they feel their rightful shame

I will feel superior

I know it’s not me to blame

If they are inferior

Of course it’s clear for all to see

From my blank interior

My soul’s the soul of purity

Evil’s all exterior

I gave up all my desires

Though the rest of you may rue it

I don’t like those painful fires

All that sick frustration, screw it!

I sit up here where it’s higher

And make fools like you go through it

But next time I feel desire

You might want to make me do it

(A—timely?—reprint from my writings on Ken McLeod's UM Ning)

Love to All,

John O.