The featured image is a picture of me from circa 1989. I was working as a cashier at the Good Neighbor Food CO-OP that was located in Louisville, Kentucky. I am holding a jar of powdered garlic from Frontier herbs CO-OP.
The video posted below is a part of my preparation for a music gig that I have at a CO-OP in Paoli, IN. The poem posted below the video is a spoken word piece that I wrote a couple of months ago.
Enjoy and please don’t forget to share the video and this post.
Thanks Y’all!
John Paul
The Cooperative Manifesto II
in between
the old and the new …
- I see the old,
grey hair with eyes
glowing of potentials,
Missions and Visions –
what was, growing old and
disappearing. Tired and worn of
speeches, marches and failures,
teach -ins, chants and just be in …
all the kings, horses, all the queens
and children cooperatively
playing alternative melodies
dreaming, eating and singing together.
What once was, in danger of coming
up short.
- I see the young
excited faces with fists
clinched in solidarity,
decisions and resolutions –
what is, the passionate and
growing. Ready and willing to
stand, get in the way of weapons
made to destroy life as we know it …
all the groups, factions, the new people
and children competitive
participating in innocence
dreaming, fighting and looking
to what once was, in danger of coming
in last.
(In the fierce urgency
of our time …
I sit in the middle
branded and caught.)
The message:
Say.
We hold these myths to be potential
they, hold truth to be self-evident.
We cooperatively exist,
on the other side
of duality. Afraid of nothing.
Lost and found –
rejecting all that is made
to destroy nature!
We, united in love
employed in each other.
- Oh, my friends,
quiet your heart
from fearful beatings.
There is darkness –
because of light.
There is an end
because of beginnings.
Our lives, the planets –
our loves, circle.
Trust in return
and find peace
in each other.
Our solutions?
We already own.
- Like my mother
used to say …
First your money
then your clothes,
and then you find
yourself naked!
Change your mind
to change your life.
- I have no time
for worry! Power
is relevant only
to the ones
who unknowingly
and irresponsibly
taunt the risk
of extinction!
