Flash! This Is The News! Poetry Is Revolution! Ask Leroi Jones! Ask Yourself!

FLASH! THIS IS THE NEWS! POETRY IS REVOLUTION! ASK LEROI JONES! ASK YOURSELF!

Mouths that kissed

in the hot ashes of Pompeii

are returning

and eyes that could adore their beloved only

in the fires of Pompeii

are returning

and locked bodies that squirmed in ecstasy

in the lava of Pompeii

are returning

and lovers who found their perfect passion

in the death of Pompeii

are returning

and they're letting themselves in

again with the names of your sons

and your daughters.

-richard brautigan,

in the san francisco express-times

I like to think (and

the sooner the. better!)

of a cybernetic meadow

where mammals and computers

live together in mutually

programming harmony

like pure water

touching clear sky.

I like to think

(right now, please!)

of a cybernetic forest

filled with pines and electronics

where deer stroll peacefully

past computers

as if they were flowers

with spinning blossoms.

(more)

I like to think

(it has to be!)

of a cybernetic ecology

where we are free of our labors

and joined back to nature,

returned to our mammal

brothers and sisters,

and all watched over

by machines of loving grace.

-richard brautigan,

in the digger papers

S.M.P. 1968

Trapped now unable

to fight your lies

and bullshit. Keep trying

your damndest to make

me hate you. Fifteen years

in another institution 

two here make no difference.

Already the walls crumble

around you. The decaying rot

too far advanced to halt.

Try, if you can, to change.

Learn, as we did, to love.

Stop following those as blind as

you have been. Move out

into the light, be men, not

some poor imitation. Wake up! Live don't

just exist. Smoke some dope,

find out who you are. Drop

acid, forget the bogeyman of your

alcohol nightmare. Love--

put down your guns and bombs

they aren't needed anymore.

All your hate and violence didn't

make it--admit your mistakes

Change! while there's still time

-tom paxton #119939,

southern michigan prison/jackson

(tom paxton is a young Michigan poet now serving 2-10 years in southern Michigan prison, jackson Michigan, for "possession of marijuana". he will be eligible for parole next may)