TWO POEMS: JOHN ROCHE

Further

(closing thoughts after Cloudburst Council)

--John Roche

Further is a bus

driven by Merry Dionysians

bus comes from omnibus

transport for all

Mahayana the Greater Vehicle

a quite Whitmanian notion

sometimes a great nation

no gloom at Seneca Emergence Place

but Cloudburst Express needs to be a Soul Train

needs to be a Freedom Train too

not there yet.

The founding convention of Cloudburst Council is gaveled closed

no closure for poetry…

Jimi sings, "Castles made of sand drift into the sea eventually"

maybe not a bad thing to build your castles on sand

Tibetan or Navaho sand paintings complete their magic only when

the image is erased.

John Roche at Cloudburst Council May 2012                    photo by machine

Sally Forth

--John Roche

The purpose of a Citadel

is to give protection

not to keep you bottled up.

A strong Citadel means

you can safely

sally forth.

In fact, the safety of the Citadel

depends on

scouts, traders, knights

willing to bravely sally forth

gather information, exchange trade goods,

scatter skirmishers, demolish siege engines.

Without this, the noose of besiegement tightens.

Without Sallying Forth, we feed on ourselves, first the dogs,

then the dead, next the children.

So much depends upon a white chicken smuggled

across the lines so much depends on those willing to tunnel

swim creeks ride horses enjamb the perimeter use subterfuge

ride invisible taxis 

establish parataxis between inside/outside/both sides of the moat

leave breadcrumbs for others' mnemotaxis.

So much depends on friends not content to stay by the hearth fire

yet so much depends on those reading by that hearthside

with minds unbridled.

So much depends

on those who tarry there by the sally gardens

taking love easy, "Easy Baby," Magic Sam sang.

The best Citadel is the one you carry in your breast as you sally forth.

John Roche at Cloudburst 2012  photo by David Landrey