N a p a l m H e a l t h S p a : R e p o r t 2 0 1 2

JOHN ROCHE

Song of Wandering Owsley
A 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]