#oz
The witch vanishes in a mystical flash.
The house lies awkwardly on two legs,
With shrivelled feet.
Soon, the small crowd chants,
"Follow the yellow-brick road!"
There lies a contiguous
Red-brick road.
Where does it lead?
Not to the Emerald City.
No one acknowledges the Ruby red swirl.
It does, nonetheless, lead in the opposite direction,
Away from Xenophobic Land,
The shortcomings of an equivocating sneak-thief.
Away from what lies behind the curtain,
Not following.
Like Frost, lead the way on the "red-brick road,"
And in this case, an unfamiliar route,
Not returning to home.
And always bring water.
Jan 13
Jan 13, 2026 at 11:13 AM UTC
There once was a munchkin from Oz
Named Phineas Entwhistle Boz.
The Lollipop Guild
Had Phineas killed:
Their reason, they said, was, "Becoz."
Jun 7, 2025
Jun 7, 2025 at 6:44 AM UTC
Look at my soul, what do you see?
A diverse human spirit hiding in me.
Protective barriers and walls I build.
Whilst living behind them, a life unfulfilled.
I'll take time with you for some secrets to share that I can love and hate, and anger and care.
I'm joy and sadness, and calm and remorse,
for I feel the same as other humans, of course.
Yet how much remains hidden you'll never know, for I'll only project what I want to show.
There's war in the world that I truly abhor.
It seems that few can be trusted anymore.
Surrounded by death and poverty and strife,
it's no wonder that I often reflect upon life.
With my values and beliefs badly overturned,
I take some time to explore what I've learned.
I'm alone in this world, yet part of another.
I cherish these bonds that remain unbroken
and those dear words of love that are often spoken.
My family's presence is beyond compare,
and when they're in need, I'll always be there.
I'm truly unique, my thoughts are all mine,
and I own my own feelings most of the time!
From the way that I am, I develop and grow,
exploring my soul so that more I shall know.
So look at my soul, what do you see?
There's a diverse human spirit shining in me.
Sep 12, 2021
Sep 12, 2021 at 7:00 AM UTC
Wonderland
by Michael R. Burch
We stood, kids of the Lamb, to put to test
the beatific anthems of the blessed,
the sentence of the martyr, and the pen’s
sincere religion. Magnified, the lens
shot back absurd reflections of each face—
a carnival-like mirror. In the space
between the silver backing and the glass,
we caught a glimpse of Joan, a frumpy lass
who never brushed her hair or teeth, and failed
to pass on GO, and frequently was jailed
for awe’s beliefs. Like Alice, she grew wee
to fit the door, then couldn’t lift the key.
We failed the test, and so the jury’s hung.
In Oz, “The Witch is Dead” ranks number one.
Keywords/Tags: Alice, Wonderland, Joan, Arc, martyr, blessed, beatific, religion, witch, Oz, carnival, mirror, lens, jury, kids, lamb, beliefs, faith, sonnet
Mar 28, 2020
Mar 28, 2020 at 3:22 AM UTC
I met a check-out chick the other day,
I asked how was her New Year's Day, okay,
She said she had a dreadful New Year's Day.
Her boyfriend battling bushfires with the CFA,
He had never been so far away,
What on earth could I say?
Our firies are like superheroes today,
Right there with Superman, okay?
Would you give them a salary or lunch money? Hey,
They don't do it for the money, okay?
Well, give them all a gold medal, I say,
When these bushfires are gone one day,
Chats about our firies everywhere these days!
Jan 15, 2020
Jan 15, 2020 at 3:06 PM UTC
We’re off to see the wizard
The wonderful wizard of Oz
The one with courage, a brain, a heart, and a solution
The powerful wizard of Oz
The man, no being!, who has these wonderful things
The wonderful wizard of oz
You walk into his room
The wonderful room in Oz
You ask your questions
Oh wonderful wizard of Oz!!
Will you give me what I need? What I crave?
Please oh wondrous magician of Oz!
‘Why of course’ he says
For he is the wonderful wizard of Oz
‘You need a brain? Courage? A heart? A home?
Asks the inquisitive wizened man of Oz
‘Take mine and go, for I have no need of them
I want to fly away from this confining land of Oz
Take everything I have and let me float away
The man in the sky from Oz
Waving from above the clouds
In a wondrous balloon above Oz
You’ve been off to see the wizard
The wonderful wizard of Oz
And you’ve found, that he is a lost man
The hopeless man from oz
Jan 3, 2020
Jan 3, 2020 at 4:04 PM UTC
I take off the spectacles
and I realize
the Emerald City
isn’t green at all
I see you
in the light of day
and I realize
you’re not the person
I thought I needed
to make me feel good about myself
I was asleep in the poppies
and the validation wasn’t worth it
I loved you last night
but I was dreaming
too far over the rainbow
Now
I just want to go
home
Someone please take me
home
- Manifest Destiny
Apr 28, 2019
Apr 28, 2019 at 4:08 PM UTC
It’s a bit like shock therapy
When you’d come to.
It was the Depression, sure,
And I was barely clothed and fed
But I woke up refreshed
Realigned and adjusted.
A clean sweep!
Surrounded by my loving family.
Back.
So this is the way things are;
The way things were,
Before
But it’s not so bad in comparison.
That over there was a disaster
The so-called
“Loss of consciousness”
Was I in a coma?
With witch’s feet
And those dancing trolls
A road leading where and why?
There are no other roads, so who cares the color?
It was a horror story, not a morality play
They were so presumptuous,
What I needed!
They told me that I had killed someone,
a complete stranger
and
That’s when it all got worse.
Bluebirds fly
Yes I suppose they do!
You are right!
I got my wish in a sick kind of way
I went beyond a “rainbow”
as it were
It was bad.
I liked those gorgeous orange woozy poppies
but so what,
I was asleep anyway.
Do you see what I mean?
Chased by monkeys and
people who don’t really like me.
Not really.
Not any more than anywhere else.
Despite what they say.
Anyway, everyone clearly had their own agenda.
It was a matter of convenience and opportunities.
What was mine again?
Oh yeah.
For it to stop.
The Wizard was a Kansas Man
He said so himself
And when I showed up
Well he decided to clear out
I guess we were two Kansans too many
Stay with us Dorothy!
We love you!
All of us!
We don’t want you to go!
Doesn’t that sound a bit odd?
So I came back with this bit about
Well “if I ever look
for my heart’s desire
again
I will look no further
than my own backyard
Because if it isn’t there
(It gets good!)
I never really lost it
To begin with!”
Can you believe that?
I also relentlessly repeated
HOME
Euphemistically speaking
and the word
LIKE
Which isn’t really a total and complete
lie
And somehow it worked
It came to an end
I can’t really explain why but
It could have been a Jim Jones situation.
But do you think that I believed any of it?
I escaped
And now I think that I know how to do it.
And I can do it again.
But to someplace
Else.
Sep 30, 2018
Sep 30, 2018 at 7:19 PM UTC
Synapses roll off the tongue,
Stutter and glitch
Stut-t-t-ter and glitch
Repeat....Re...p-p-peat
Misfired.
You a broken doll
With your bright brilliance.
Mar 23, 2018
Mar 23, 2018 at 9:26 PM UTC
shall we meet
if only for the first time
though I feel we have danced
briefly
in times past
in the life I still live
in these fields of gold
songs that haunt me with their beauty
yet somewhere
over that rainbow of dreams
I sense you wait for me
when Autumn leaves fall
how dare I love a spirit
I do not know
yet it is my conviction that we are bound somehow
in time
after time
awaken me
in those darkest nights
in the absence of purity
before my soul is taken by the abyss
a whisper is all I need
whisper the word from that song...
somewhere
Mar 23, 2018
Mar 23, 2018 at 5:24 PM UTC
I gave up somewhere along this road—
When it was I don’t know.
So I’ll sit here, underneath the shade
And wait for the Tin man,
Now rusted in time, far behind me.
I discovered, sitting there, that day—
That losing a heart
Was actually an easy thing to do.
Mar 13, 2018
Mar 13, 2018 at 11:31 PM UTC
I could while away the hours
Conferrin' with the flower
Consultin' with the rain
And my head, I'd be scratchin'
While my thoughts were busy hatchin'
If I only had a brain...
Flashes,
Alms to flashes,
Storms on television sets
Domesticating nature for High Definition ****** fixation.
Suffocating families in screens.
Screens and flashes,
Alms to flashes.
Distractions spurn all my senses
I am hard and flaccid
and want more
but less
but right now
and again!...
I can feel the needle connect to my veins and into my spine
Push the plunger down and connection is made.
I would not be just a nuffin' my head all full of stuffin'
My heart all full of pain.
I would dance and be merry, life would be a ding-a-derry,
If I only had a brain.
Dec 12, 2017
Dec 12, 2017 at 11:28 AM UTC
Every home has a Mother
Waiting with open arms at the door.
And a Dad in his armchair,
As the tradition goes.
Welcome to the lounge
Where we can huddle by the fire.
TV in the corner
And - if you have them –
Dogs and cats to stroke.
Then there’s Sunday Lunch
And those daily aromas of baking.
Memories of scooping out the bowl
And eating most of the peas you shelled.
Home – a place of refuge
Where you can bring all your troubles
And have them resolved.
Our Mum kept a beautiful garden,
Resplendent with colourful flowers.
An oasis on a council estate.
As Dorothy Gale of Oz fame said before me:
There’s no place like Home.
Paul Butters
© PB 20\11\2017.
Nov 20, 2017
Nov 20, 2017 at 5:59 AM UTC
Rusty, rickety limbs of mine
Rattle along the yellow brick road
A way to relinquish heavy burdens
Do they seek
The first weighty sack I bear
A mystical maiden has within
One who hides what the morrow will bring
Oh, couldn’t I tip-toe and take a peek?
The second hefty bag, however
Is in fact as light as a feather
Though fooled be not by its lack in substance!
For its mighty grip continues to tether me along
The path of the golden brick road
This particular bag in question
Has a greying man in its possession
One who is very familiar to me
One who knocks at the door of memory
And shows me what has come before
The last bulky piece of luggage
Has naught within its confines
Nothing but a glaring emptiness
Which tells the story of a vacant space
Where my tick-tock ticker ought to be
Thus here I am
Creaking and croaking
Along this treasured trail
With my tin-can body
On my way to the emerald city
In hopes to find a remedy
For the calamity
Known as coeur brisé
Mar 1, 2017
Mar 1, 2017 at 11:27 AM UTC
So let me set **** straight
And try to illuminate
The essence of beginning
That you culminate
Nice guy?
Terminate
Erradicate
Attempt to dictate
With no knowledge of my state
At any rate
Sweetheart
You're nothing but a game
That thinks it can play
But hey
Sometimes
Deep down we find
Walking that straight line
Is getting a little crooked
Project your actions on to me
Because that's what I'm meant to be
I'm an example of who not to be
What not to see
Take the key
And open your mind
This world spins faster and faster
Hurling toward disaster
You think you hurt me
But you're just an after thought
You think you're pristine
But you're not.
My heart beats
With one girl in mind
And she isn't you
You look on me with disdain
While I smile
And rhyme away my pain
You had a friend in me
But now you've blown it
You think you know me
But you don't know ****
My temper was even
But
No more Mr. nice Steven
May 23, 2016
May 23, 2016 at 6:02 PM UTC
Judy Judy Kansas cutie / it starts in the heartland / Tornado = social change through manipulated crisis / Toto the only free agent / Dorothy struck on her head by the closing window of virtual possibility / She realizes that hope'n'change have reached the prairie / Alice in Wonderland Hollywood / Kansas as futurist narrative / Star Wars pre-dated / It's a Wonderful Mythic Life / Miss Gulch as Henry Potter / Witchery in bitchery: Hillary 2016 / Scarecrow as Celtic bog-sacrifice victim / Tinman as ****** therapy client / Did that hurt? No - it felt wonderful ! / Bible-belt Pentecostal subtexts: "the anointing" / obsolete leonine monarchies / Louis Quatorze the Sun King / enlightenment through concussion / the tyrant must be resisted from the heartland / populist progressives plot stealthily to justify their rule through the wizardry of science / the tyrant utilizes tech to manipulate the credulous / green state fascism / journey out of ontic inevitability into the futurist nightmare / eco-mammon bailouts / infantile mental midgets ruled by witch-tyrants = One World Munchkinland / Dorothy as redeemer-Messiah / Dorothy as Mary Poppins / America exports populist prophecy to the greater world / Glinda the Matriarch-Goddess / Glinda as transcendent Wisdom / the Anti-witch antidote / Patriarchy creates "special effects" subterfuge / flying monkeys: shock-troops of the witch / simian social justice warriors / Obama as Witch of West AND Wizard simultaneously / flying monkeys: brown-shirt armies of new multi-culti order / George W. Bush was the the witch the house ("Hope & Change') fell on / Over the Rainbow: somewhere beyond ****** identity grievance-mongering / There's no place like the Restoration of All Things
May 18, 2016
May 18, 2016 at 5:49 PM UTC
ruby slippers drag me home,
tin men clasping my hands.
they wish me goodbye,
pressing their lips on my skin.
glittering eyes cross into mine,
metal smiles sprout on their mouths.
they offer me flowers, petals of red.
a bouquet of my greatest desire.
returning home sparks a flame in me,
burning the metal flesh of the tin men's lips.
goodbye, I whisper into the wind,
merrily waving to my most devoted sin.
desir and darkness collide into one,
my ruby slippers exchanging touches.
the winter wind draws me away,
back to the place I was born to stay.
thank you, sweet fantasy,
sweet lovers of metal hearts.
thank you, flower poets,
serenading me in a homely perfume.
on the emerald arms of grass,
my body lays to rest, tilted up to the sky.
a rainbow waves me goodbye,
fastening its multicolored smile.
home is where I must be,
away from this supreme fantasy.
nothing more to say,
thankful for the magical dreams.
Apr 28, 2016
Apr 28, 2016 at 10:06 PM UTC
i'll be your
yellow
brick
road
i will lead you
where you wish
to go
and you can
step
all over me
Feb 5, 2015
Feb 5, 2015 at 7:56 AM UTC