H e a r t S o n s & H e a r t D a u g h t e r s of A l l e n G i n s b e r g

N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 4 : A r c h i v e s E d i t i o n

JOHN ROCHE

Song of Wandering Owsley

(collaboration with Susan Deer Cloud)

Owsley disappeared into the orange

mists of Avalon

And the skies rained orange

creamsicles for seven days

And a new world arose full of

tangerine trees and marmalade skies

On the seventh day the Thunder God

of Creamsicles rested

And the children tripped out to the

lakes of orange left behind

And the Sky Mother of Clementine

Songs saw that it was good

Oh, there’s an Awful Orange at the Start of the World!

Ah, Valencia! How we weep blood

orange when we think of you

By the River of Sunshine there we sat

down at the World’s Navel

Skinnydipping in the cool sweet fire of

the dream flood

Drowned trees would green and

flower forth as saffron suns

Sacred snakes glistened around the

children in sacred hoops

But now few can remember the

ancient creamsicle rains

Oh, there’s an Awful Orange at the End of the World!

[This work first appeared in Jack Magazine, I: 4, 2002. Used by permission of the author. Originally published in NHS 2012, http://www.poetspath.com/napalm/nhs12/.]