Yoko Ono asks us to 'Come Together'

Love her or hate her, Yoko Ono has survived lifetimes of controversies, including the latest over footage of the late John Lennon smoking pot, penning songs and discussing putting LSD in President Nixon’s tea. She is the one pivotal force continuing to nurture our connections to Lennon, missed yet still present in his songs and art.

Ono brings Come Together, the largest collection of Lennon’s artworks on paper, to Annapolis on Friday, May 30, for the first time in the traveling exhibit’s 15-year history.

You’ve said the common denominator in all of John’s work was peace and love. With that in mind, do you think John would have wanted peace and forgiven his assassin Mark David Chapman?

I have no idea. I don’t think he would have loved the fact that his life was shortened by him. John was really so alive and really wanted to see everything — the changes that are happening in this world. He always wanted to do things. He was always waiting for what’s next.

Have you forgiven Chapman and found peace?

Well, it’s still hard. It’s not to do so much with Chapman per se but the fact that I had to recover from a great loss that I can’t forget.

After all that’s been written and said about John and yourself, is there something that the media and fans overlook or misunderstand?

The extent of people’s understanding about us is what they want to understand that way. It’s up to them. We were just living our lives, and some of them are interested in knowing about it because it could have inspired or encouraged them, and to an extent it did. I think there’s a lot of creative journalism. Yes of course the truth is still there somewhere, and I’m sure that eventually it will all be unfolded.

Is there a specific inaccurate report that comes to mind?

There have been some very untrue reports, like “Yoko ate dog meat.” What? Where?!

That was happening in London. An artist ate dog meat to make a statement. I was supposed to be there, but I wasn’t. I was in Russia. So I had a very good alibi.

How frustrating are reports like that?

It’s frustrating, but what’s almost scary is people take it seriously. They say, “How dare you do that?” And I hear complaints when I didn’t do [what’s been reported.] I feel very bad about that. But to sell papers and magazines, they have to go for sensationalism. It’s the fault of people who like to read sensationalized stories. That sells more papers.

Would you consider starting another bed-in?

Well with whom? By myself? I thought about that too. But what was very important about the bed-in was it was something two people did, a man and a woman. John was from the West, and I was from the East. All those combinations were very important. But the bed-in we did is still alive in our minds and conceptually in society.

A lot of the work in Come Together is about John as a husband and father. What kind of partner and father was he?

I think he was at his best [as a partner and father.] He’s human too. Some days he was not very happy, or mourning about life or something. I think he really tried to make relationships work well with me and his son as well. It was an incredible effort he was making, I saw that.

jnovak@baltimoreexaminer.com

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