Pages From John

Poems and Short Stories

  • A Big Funny Joke

    A big funny joke it is

    That we are saying the same thing but cannot hear it

    Confusing… I know…

    I am your friend, I promise.

  • A Place and the Universe

    My eyes, my eyes, the things you see.

    Attention’s unknown pull is the message.

    When unrestrained, it is received.

    Constant conversation.

    Sometimes the universe needs to give it a rest.

    Sometimes I just want to be in a place.

    The universe is great, but a place is too.

    The universe gives me a place.

    Thank you for a place.

    Thank you for the universe.

  • Disagreeing with the Lizard King

    Breaking through the atmosphere and learning how to breathe.

    In the celestial land of lostness, I have been found.

    And at a moment like this, I wonder… How high does the elevator go?

    It shakes my foundations, it shakes my core, and I implode on myself.

    In the Land of Lollipops there are even sharper and more hurtful swords!

    To forget Hate is one thing, but to learn to Love Hate is another.

    The ugliness in beauty and the beauty in ugliness.

    The same lessons over and over but from a different perspective.

    Heaven is another Hell! Heaven is another Hell!

    The Devil knows how much he loves the Hell.

    The Enemy is once again the Ally, but I think he will turn again on a later day.

    I think? I think? I think? Yes, here you are again!

    Jim said he preferred a Feast of Friends to the giant family.

    I understand the American Poet, The Lizard King, Mr. Mojo Risin’.

    But I might go all the way… I might try to go all the way… I do not know.

    I cannot know.

    Fear.

    Ah, hello, fear!

  • The Nature of the Machine

    You were born, and you moved and wanted.
    But what you wanted, left them all haunted.

    You had dreams, but they were rearranged.
    They were unproductive, you were manged.

    They plugged you in and sat you down.
    A system saw value in a child’s frown.

    They say, “a serious world with a serious task.”
    What is it? Who knows! Please don’t ask!

    You became a product to make products.
    To go over numbers, sheets, and audits.

    Given a reward, you were programmed to get.
    So that you become a sad, stupid pet.

    Go through the pleasure belt and don’t think.
    Can’t you see life is just an achievement kink?

    There is no fault, though it seems lots and lots.
    After all, it is just robots making robots.

    What were the dreams you had as a child?
    Back when you weren’t yet trained to be so mild.

    Do you have any dreams that are still your own?
    Or only the ones they gave on profitable loan?

    Just get to the top, prance and preen.
    Yes, this is the nature of the machine.