Pages From John

Poems and Short Stories

  • You Are Fucking Crazy, Mr. Universe!

    What an insane thing you really are…

    Crude matter pretending to be something you are not…

    Well I suppose you are those things…

    You are all those things…

    I am made of all the other things too…

    I am all those other things…

    Or was those things…

    But still am those things rearranged…

    I was once an exploding star…

    I was once a dinosaur toe…

    I was cow shit…

    A blade of grass…

    Wind passing over a meadow…

    And now look at me!

    Or you?

    A person sitting in a living room…

    Writing poetry!

    Believing that I am something separate…

    That I am some man named John…

    And what will I be next?

    Will my spirit live on?

    Is my spirit born of my matter?

    Or is my matter born of my spirit?

    Or are they something separate altogether?

    Will my matter become something else?

    Oh, you, all this universal stuff…

    All this dancing matter of stuff…

    All these strange masks of identity you wear…

    Tree…

    Rock…

    Alex…

    Alexandra…

    President…

    Peasant…

    Who are you, Mr. Universe?

    You are fucking crazy…

    That is what you are!

    We are all just fucking crazy like you…

    Wearing our crazy masks of identity…

    Playing this big game of pretend…

    The most real game of pretend there is…

    There is nothing else to do but play pretend…

    Pretend to be something…

    Pretend to be someone…

    But we are Mr. Universe…

    Or Mrs. Universe?

    Doesn’t matter, does it?

    Being all the same crazy stuff, that is.

  • The Bickering Ministers

    “Surely, this! Surely, this is impending doom!” A minister let out a cry.

    “What difference does it make?” A second asked. “In the end, we all die!”

    A third minister butted in. “Let’s just fake it! The king should surely lie…”

    “Why are we trying so hard?” A fourth pondered. “Everyday we should just eat pie!”

    The first minister protested again. “It is the end, I say! Our certain doom!”

    The second minister added. “This king says nothing as these crises loom!”

    The third minister laughed. “Remember when we were in charge of this room?”

    The fourth pondered further. “Not the right time to suggest cake, I assume?”

    The king just watched from his dais as all his ministers argued,

    He said absolutely nothing in this seemingly urgent minister feud,

    This king was simply observing with an acquiescent attitude…

    As the ministers’ problems mostly vanished when the king didn’t conclude.

  • In Dreams

    When I walk the mountainside,

    I see grand, protruding rocks.

    Inside me these images hide,

    It is only within these locks.

    I cannot see flowers in daylight hours.

    I cannot see your face in real space.

    Images only exist for us in us,

    Disconnected from what we see.

    Thus when dreams we discuss,

    What really are they to me?

    I do see you in dreams as a clue.

    What I see in dreams is a key to me.

    It is the only place I really see.

    And be.

  • Everyone Gets What They Truly Seek

    Talking hippie manifestation,

    The spider web creation,

    That humble prayer intention.

    Your eyes are look, look, looking,

    While your brain is cook, cook, cooking,

    And your consciousness finds its footing.

    Think the world is rotten to the core,

    You will see things that make you sure,

    And nothing left on Earth will be pure.

    Think you are not deserving of love,

    That idea will, surely, fit like a glove,

    And every person will give you the shove.

    Think that you are of no good value,

    Your mind will create every clue,

    And it won’t matter what you can do.

    But think that it is all a chance for joy,

    The mind has new devices to employ,

    Then the enemy becomes your bellboy.

    But think that you are part of the greats,

    New things will come out of doors on plates,

    Then you will see the opening of the pearly gates.

    But think that life is something worth living,

    That the universe is doing a lot of giving,

    Then you have entered your own forgiving.

    Everyone gets what they truly seek,

    Even if what they seek is dark and bleak,

    But what if it could be a wondrous peak?

    Everyone gets what they truly seek…