Tuesday, August 25, 2026

Art, and Artists, Are Just Weird




Yoko Ono made an art installation 
That came to the Walker one time 
lt was a ladder set in the floor 
I think on a little piece of carpet
You had to climb the ladder 
And at the top, on the ceiling 
In tiny writing on a little scrap
Was just one word: Yes.

Sometimes life, the stars
Whatever you think runs it all 
Amuses itself at our expense.
And says, it really is that easy.

I hear you say, "But it depends on 
What's in your personal chart
Yadda yadda, mumbled jargon."
Luckily I don't really understand that
Reading. And don't agree. 
I think energy, it's all connected.
It's a maze of mirrors, false 
Oppositions, shifting ancient paths.
Stuff that isn't neat and tidy
Or easy. The price is how you know it 
When it comes.

Sometimes someone knocks 
The ladder out from under you
Or like happened to me once
Painting, it simply gives out
You fall to the ground, stunned 
And have to find a new ladder.
Or a tree going the same way. 
Or give up. 

The person with that
Ladder tucked under their arm 
Holding it close like a baby.
Like a lover. Like a tent in a storm,
Lightning striking all around.
Needs it more than you.
Trust that, and just say yes anyway.

Trust the odd, random memories.
An hour at the Walker.
Driving home to Tucson 
As electric tendrils 
Cradled those old mountains 
Sizzled through the tired, hot sky.
The workaday just falling away
Not for long, but just long enough

The kind of thing you could fit
Into a busy schedule 
If only you knew you could
Hold all that power
Without blowing up
Because it's already within us.

It really is that simple.
John understood 
That Yoko just knew
Couldn't keep it inside 
Just to keep the peace
Be respectable 
Any more than he could.

Oh to have a friend, a lover
Who doesn't play by, or expect, old rules.
Worth trying the next ladder
Despite every thought that 
Shakes your head
They sat in a bed, loved, and laughed 
At all the reporters and camera operators
Who didn't just shuck clothes and jump in.

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