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Wicked Good Woman Child

Wicked Good Woman Child with her Bold Shy Night Day,
Comes Goes my Sleep Wake as I Come Go Work Play.
Comes Goes my Sleep Wake and Hurt Soothes my heart.
Wicked Good Woman Child plays her Pleasure Pain part.

Wicked Good Daughter Wife Dark Lights my Heart Mind,
She Scratch Kisses Me You and Free Binds Hurt Kind.
She Scratch Kisses Me You till I Weep Laugh High Low.
Wicked Good Daughter Wife with her Bold Shy Stop Go.

Wicked Good Woman Child Freeze Burns Body Brain,
Hot Cold Kiss Slap Stop Goes her Woman Child’s Pain.
Hot Cold Kiss Slap Stop Goes each Night and each Day,
Wicked Good Woman Child Love Hates to Hurt Play.

Wicked Good Whisper Shout Kiss Stomps my Heart Face,
She Love Hates my Pleasure Pain, Gives Takes Hunger Taste.
She Love Hates My Pleasure Pain, Mock Praises Me You.
Wicked Good Whisper Shout makes me Wise Man Fool.

Wholly Good, Wholly Good,
I wish she were Wholly Good.
I might love her as I should,
If only she were Wholly Good.
Wholly Good, Wholly Good,
I wish I were Wholly Good.
I might leave her as I should,
If only I were Wholly Good.

Wicked Good Woman Child with her Bold Shy Night Day,
Comes Goes my Sleep Wake as I Come Go Work Play.
Comes Goes my Sleep Wake and Hurt Soothes my heart.
Wicked Good Woman Child plays her Pleasure Pain part.

Wicked Good Daughter Wife Dark Lights my Heart Mind,
She Scratch Kisses Me You and Free Binds Hurt Kind.
She Scratch Kisses Me You till I Weep Laugh High Low.
Wicked Good Daughter Wife with her Bold Shy Stop Go.

Wicked Good Woman Child, I Love Hate her so.
Wicked Good Woman Child, I Love Hate her so.

c2006 Skip Johnson
All rights reserved

Author's Note:

I've been observing an unusual relationship recently. I hope I'm misreading it. I fear I am not. It stands to damage a lot of people if it should move in a wrong direction--and I have no way of knowing whether it already has. This lyric is descriptive, not prescriptive. It is observed, not participated in. What my own responsibility in the matter is, and how I am to procede is unclear. Thank God I can lean on His wisdom so far greater than my own!

This piece is based on a phrase I've heard numerous times since arriving in New England--"Wicked Good". (I believe that's from a local stage show based on a retelling of the story of the Journey to Oz from the viewpoint of one of the witches.) I find the phrase itself unsettling. The clash of moral opposites welded together so closely in a single slang term seems a sort of verbal "computer virus" designed to break down moral distinctions that should be maintained in people's hearts, minds, words and lives. It seems an attack on the whole notion of a distinction between good and evil--a distinction that doesn't appear in a fairly wide range of possible world views outside of the Theism of the Bible. (The context for a phrase makes a great deal of difference, of course.)

Is it possible to weave words in such a way that they mar and muddle minds and morals in the same way a computer virus destroys a computer it infects? Can a mere phrase prove a snare to speaker and listener simply through its repetition and uncritical acceptance?

I have the greatest respect for words because I know and feel their power. An Old Testament prophet once wrote, "Curses are those who call darkness light and evil good." The third of the Big Ten reminds us that simply speaking wrongly can be culpable sin. The New Testament says that we will be condemned or acquitted when we face God to give an account for our lives on the basis of our words.

Words are that place between thoughts and feelings within us and outward actions that involve others as observers or participants. The Bible says we are held accountable at the point of speech--even if the action itself is never followed through on. That's rather sobering--especially for someone like myself, who works and plays with words.




[This message has been edited by Skip Johnson (edited 08-10-2006).]

Hello Skip.

Unique and disturbing at the same time.

I found myself being drawn into what comes across as a radom selection of words strung together.

"Litte sense" yet I know what the message is.

Cannot say much more then that.

I pray that what ever you are observing fixes itself and does not come to pass.

Douglas

I find it interesting and unique how you have used our language in this.
As a song, of course, I don't think it could work. But, it is different.

Kind of reminds me of one of those puzzles where the end of one sentence begins the next and they run together.
That might make an interesting song.

I agree, the idea is a bit unsettling

------------------
www.soundclick.com/billrobinson

www.dreamqueststudio.com

Bill
Live with a song in your heart

Doug,

I pray the same thing. It seems there are things I can do to help short of direct confrontation at this point. But that remains an option that must be used if necessary.

It is sort of Jabberwocky, isn't it? I recall they say Picaso, the painter, began experimenting with painting every side of a 3D object after he felt realism in painting had run its course. This is an experimental piece that lyrically makes a sort of parallel departure from the normal use of language.


Bill,

I don't know whether it will work as a song until I set it to music and give it a sing. Kind of gives me shivers just reading it.

Thanks for the look, both of you.

Skip

[This message has been edited by Skip Johnson (edited 08-10-2006).]

Hi Skip,

I have no time right now, but I want to look closer at your lyric when I can.

From the way you desribe "wicked good", as "wicked" PLUS "good" as opposed to
"wicked" OR "good"---it does seem to mimic the Eastern concept of "Tao" which has a physical representation of a circle with two intertwined parts. one black, one white.

The concept of "Tao" was appropriated by Jungians, who believe that life (and especially the human personality)can be broken down into "seen" and "shadowed" parts (of a whole). "Shadows" that surface and share time and space within a person--that can be healthy OR NOT depending on the actual case. It does seem to be a common trait in both nervous breakdowns, and epiphanies or peak experiences.

I think the "literalizing" of your idea would make a great SF story:viz. A combination of words changes a town into depraved killers, or something to that effect.

More generally speaking, your question reminds me of the idea of the "meme" which was a proposed concept of Richard Dawkins, the evolutionary theorist and ethologist.

His idea is that words, phrases, and the ideas they generate are self-propogating units of information, in the same way that "genes" are in biology,

I personally would answer yes to your question, if I am understanding you correctly. Propoganda (and more specifically, the "slogan")does infect gullable minds; at the other extreme, truly innovative idea can spring from a pregnant combination of words.

I don't think any of us would be writers, if words had no power to affect a listener. They affect in ways we haven't even begun to understand.

I will look closely at you interesting "piece" later!

Mike



[This message has been edited by closemike (edited 08-10-2006).]

Hey Skip,

It's an interesting experiment, and works best when the opposites are TRUE opposites. That you shape a poem that is sensical out of this is amazing.

One can find meanings here that would be impossible otherwise, like:

"Wicked Good Daughter Wife with her Bold Shy Stop Go"

has a precise meaning for me, and I dare not say WHAT that is, nor is there ANY OTHER WAY to say it!

I choose to read these "together opposites" as making a "richness" or pluralism or wholeness--though the poem does demonstrate that this feels (on the surface of words) quite unnatural--feels "abnormal".

Mike





[This message has been edited by closemike (edited 08-11-2006).]

Mike,

Very interesting and intelligent comments. I will be coming back to consider them more carefully later.

Skip