Labels of Babel

there's hippies & yuppies & greenies
and hippies & yuppies & greenies...
and hippies & yuppies & greenies & Kooris & junkies & drinkies,
there's smokers & tokers & dope-theives & jokers & mopers!
there's ball-kickers & ball hitters & ball-tearers with pit bull terriers.

there's drummers & dancers & dip-sticks & dubbos
yobos & touros & musos & preggos & embryos,
journos & photos & lezzos & homo sapiens & hetero sapiens
...& never-for-their-lives gonna be sapiens!

there's stoned builders & mud brickers & organic-effluent-powered
plumbers 'n joiners, metal men & amazons...
and the goddess in the kitchen.

there's painters & poets (thank god!) & potters
and butchers-&-bakers-&-candle-stick-makers
cobblers-&-weavers-&-wood-turners-&-tailors,
mad hatters & mask-makers & face painters
and glass-bead-game shakers.

there's yogis & bubbas & babies & swamis
and shaman & she-men & sufis & surfers & skaters & bikers,
and ferals & herbals & healers & dealers & wankers & yankies & jappies
& gerries & frenchies & pommies & mad irish (to be sure/ to be sure)
to be shi'ite to be shiva to be shipwrecked!
to be washed-out/ watered-down/ unemployed/ uninspired
to be youth (yuk!) to be a teenager (worse still ),
and secondary/ primary/ infant/ pre school/ day care/ after care
...careless carefree without-a-care!
to be unheard/ unknown/ just to be seen & smelt & past-on-the-street...
a pedestrian a shopper a robber a dobber a copper a crim
a loiterer a waiter a talker a laser-tongued-lizard...
an outpatient a schizo a dipso a zombie a runaway,
to be a coffee stop/ to be froth...
and farmers & grazers & graders & dozers,
horticos & aggros/ to be a shooter...to be shot!

there's cyber punks & funkies & goblins & gothics & rastas & rats,
day-trippers & night-trippers & trapped-in-their-trips
tripped-out trippy-trekkers & turned-on tantric tale-tellers,
divine-lighters & cloud-liners & takeaway diners...

there's ex-lawyers & ex-doctors & ex-priests
and ex-exes & just exes...
and ex-teachers & ex-dropouts & ex-krishnas
and we all await the ex-police commissioner.

in my village there are people just called X, & Y, & Y-not,
and Zoomer & Zero & Zara & Zorro & Tonto,
in Nimbin there are plenty of kids called:
Sun, Moon, Sky, Tree, River, Rainforest

and Marley & Charlie & Che & Chai & Ty
and Teabag & Tick & Flea & Fly...( I kid you not )...
and Fallow & Tallow & Taro & Yarrow & Zen,
and Tansy & Pansy & Ebony & Ivory & Barbie & Ken,
and Cheech & Chong & Beach & Thong & Bong ( the list goes on & on ),
there's Felix & Phoenix & Hunter & Ryder & Blossom & Leaf & Dove
and Raven & Haven & Heaven & Kevin & Melody & Harmony
and Tempest & Serena & Storm & Norm & Rosebud & Thorn.

there are young men who are so 'tourf', 'cos they just can't get 'enourf',
'cos they only get to surf...on 2 feet of concrete turf,
there are skateboard chasing yuppies & punks with pet puppies,
with chains from their knees to their toes to their navel to their nose
to their eyebrows to their foreskin to their tit!
( and it doesn't hurt a bit! except when then laugh! or try to take a bath! )

there are the little-old-ladies who worry about the babies
being bitten by the crazies with HIV-rabies, & worst of all...scabies!
the blue rinse, the plaited, the bald & the matted -
there are merchants & vendors & 20-minute money lenders,
there are pub crawlers & street brawlers & pall bearers & hall carers;

there's DMR & RTA, DEA & CES, SS & CSO's,
there's DO's & plenty of OD's, there's MO's & Oms...
ordinance officers, ambulance officers, project officers
and case managers ( on your case ).

there's youth workers & needle workers & council workers
and street sweepers & toilet cleaners who used to be dreamers;
there are movie makers & cake bakers/ on-the-make takers & crystal ball fakers
and didgeridoo wielding natty-dreadlocked-congo-bongo-hippie-trippy-shakers!

there are narcs dressed as nuns dressed as surfies wearing guns/
there are school boys dressed as home-boys who've run away from home,
they got much-too-much attitude to live in a tipi or a dome ( thank you mum )...
they're tough & independent/ they got speed they got no car/
they say "I'm an individual" ( dressed as an american basketball star )

slam-dunkin' & funky-junkin'/ the writing's on the wall
but if the graffiti's bad for business hear the developer scream the call:
call a meeting! call the media! call the public! fill the hall!
call the police! call the choppers! or watch my village rise & fall...

to be lovers/ to be leftovers/ to be left-right-up-downers/
to be around & around & around & arounders,
weekend-workshoppers & co-dependent conference-hoppers/
mid-life crises for midwives with vices & shotgun divorces over hemp & horses...
to be labels/ to be bloody labeled!
to be glue-sniffers of stick-on-labels right here in cafes on the streets of Babel...
on the road from Babel to Babylon to Bourke & back to Nimbin.

Copyright; David Hallett