You Asked Me Why - Johnny Olson

A fellow mad one
once asked me,
Why do you do it?
Sometimes it seems
the efforts you need
in planting this seed
leave you tired and dry.

I didn't answer him.
I knew the answer deep inside
but never put into words
the what's, when's, where's and why's.

This is what I should'a said:

I do it for the payoff.
I do it for this glorious jackpot
that fills me and spills me.
I do it for this giving and taking.
I do it for this showing and growing and flowing
to bounds unknowing
which keeps me going and going and going.

It came in one phrase
during a very fertile phase
read in the pages
of the Beatnik’s bible...

The whole mad swirl
of everything to come
began then.

...it was that recognition
in Jack’s premonition
that the moment was
electrified and synchronized.
In our one collective push
in the right direction
we knew that
the whole mad swirling world
can be changed forever
if only we opened that door,
if only we gave birth to this swirl.

Our creative love child
has never had a house
but has countless homes.

It is this lifeline
which connects us
back to our primal source
and leads us
back into the knowing arms
of our kindred spirits
and carries us
back to our original aboriginal tribe.

I just happened to be the last one
holding the opened door -
to the stage we’re sharing...
to the mic we’re opening...
to the page we’re writing...
to the web we’re weaving...
- and I must keep holding it
‘cos we’re not even close
to closin’ it yet.

It’s the torch
we must keep burning.
It’s the words
we must keep hearing.
It’s the cross
we must keep bearing.
It’s this crown
we must keep wearing.
It’s this moment
we must keep creating.
It’s this love
we must keep making.

We gotta keep moving
every mad day
and we gotta keep building
in every mad way
and we gotta keep preaching
all these things that we say
‘cos we gotta keep being
a piece of this something
because the whole mad swirl of everything
to come is now!

You asked me why do I do it?
I do what I do
because someone has to.
It’s my duty.
It’s my responsibility.
It’s my way of giving back.

Now let me ask you a question -
Wouldn’t you do it too,
if this was handed to you?

- johnny olson

view more of johnny's poetry at MadSwirl.com