Nowadays we got a Savior on a Stick,
battered and deepfried like at the Arena
just selling a commodity.
Whitewater baptisms beyond the Gate
But I still see the true beauty of god
in the rocks and the hills and the trees.
Listen in quiet solitude and She will sing for thee,
even deep down in the caves,
yes, especially there.
I know Babel's Tower fell
and our tongues were split,
the true division bell.
But all speak of the same,
each culture and its belief system
suspended by egos so frail.
One sees Buddha as just a jolly fat man,
rub his belly, it will bring you luck.
One sees Allah strapping on a suicide bomber's vest
after kneeling on a mat.
Another sees Confuscious as a fortune cookie tycoon,
speaking half ass riddles.
Another sees Christ as just another carpenter's workmans' comp case,
while opening mouths for symbolic cannabalism.
Others see Earth Mother as some stoner hallucination
while ravaging her womb.
Others see Father Sky as injun talk, Custard's demise,
while clocking in at the Factory under the polluted clouds.
No matter the label, and the labels do roll on,
it's all the spirit of god revealing Herself.
Stitching the Slit of the Meat that Spits.
In God I do trust,
but in man,
surely you jest.
Under roofs I hear Her intent manipulated.
Under stars I commune pure and direct.
Blessed be in wyrld tongue.
Author notes
bah humbug
A contest entry
- Mystics speak! by Dark Otter.
600 points, ended October 16, 2008, 5 entries
Gold trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Give me anything! by ASmileForYou.
560 points, ended December 16, 2008, 138 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - My one year birthday fantasy bash! by Dark Otter.
1000 points, ended January 22, 38 entries
Honorable mention
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 37 of 37
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Legendary. Just the right amount of unapologetic acidity.
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You prise open this can of worms and release vipers. Long may they bite.
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I love the way you don't capitalise the diety and call her 'she'... that appeals to my sense of believing in the inner sanctum of mind, body and spirit. There is every reason to turn to poetry in order to acquire a sense of the nature of religion. The two seem always to have been intimately linked. This deep and ancient affinity cannot be accidental. One does not "understand" what Aeschylus or Isaiah wrote, because poetry is not, in the ordinary sense, "understood." If it is great, it is lived with over time by individuals and civilizations, interpreted again and again in its impact on language and thought and the arts, and on all those souls who are sensitive to its pleasures and sufficiencies. In just the same way, religion is not to be "understood."
Robinson Jeffers writes in fiercer terms of a perceived affinity of the divine and the human:
"Unmeasured power, incredible passion, enormous craft: no thought apparent but burns darkly, smothered with its own smoke in the human
brain-vault: no thought outside: a certain measure
in phenomena: The fountains of the boiling stars, the flowers on the foreland, the ever-returning roses of dawn."
Fountains and roses: the mind in the act of knowing as it can know, with every ambiguity intended; the mind as imagination... poetry at its very best.
Kudos
~ crisstiena
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thank you for an extensive commentary. love the quote, I will have to check that author out further. groovy, I dig gettin turned on to previously unknown writes of wit.
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Mr. Balldinger introduced me to the late Robinson Jeffers and I've been hooked ever since...
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ahhh good ol Ed, yeah, that madman is full of interesting knowledge. He has turned me on to several writers already, both old and new.
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Whew! The factual truths of this write are intense and refreshing.
Excellent poetic truth.
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nods .. thank you kindly.
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I have seldom seen a more cogent elucidation of Taoist belief than this inspired poem. Not only is your theological vision clear, but your creative poetic technique expresses it in a clear and simple way. Nothing short of genius. Kudos on the Gold!
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thank you patrick, i am humbled by such a lofty compliment. top of the night to ya.
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congratulations on the green thingy
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thanks A, appreciate
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What can I say!
A totally creative write that I enjoyed the first time that I saw it and still enjoy even now. This piece has great tongue in cheek sarcasm and some wonderful insight. Poems that speak to my 'dark humor' are a rarity. -
I loved this write very much, and it would have won over all...
but I believe God is masculine, not a 'she' or 'her'
This has so much truth and much depth to it.
FANTASTIC for sure.
Thank-you for entering it.
On another note, I have to agree that most religions have fallen off the path of truth, most would like us to give them our money as a way of worship, and YES... so many lives have been sacrificed in the name of whatever truth they try to force.
These are the things that give God a bad name, and drive people away instead of drawing them closer to God.
I don't like religion much, I do, however love faith, and those who hold it with LOVE.
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This was very good. I loved reading how you described the different Gods. Very creative! Thanks for entering!
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Right On!
Congrats on a well deserved award.
This is a three-reader fer sure!
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"Under stars I commune pure and direct." How can it be more clear than that? You laid it bare. A most thought provoking write. Insight to man's greatest plight. Ending in redemption of soul tabula rasa . kudos on this great write.
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thank ya G. much love gal.
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wow...this was a write...filled with metaphor and simile
of power and really gave us all a lot to chew upon!
I can see why you clearly claimed the GOLD!
fearless it was to write this poem.....and interesting
too....why..we always have this need as earthly mortals
to precisely, define God...
I thought his answer was pretty clever in the hebrew
notes when asked his name,....
he simply said,
I AM...and that was that!
I thought it answered really well!
incredible write you have here!
ears/Seattle
a real lively conversation poem,
to break thru all the myths.
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Thanx Kat, glad ya enjoyed. it was a pleasure to write. kinda proud of this un.
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and if the world was without religion, what a better place it would be... all these faiths preach peace, yet they are all responsible for the worst manmade tragedies here on earth... hard to have faith in a god when the very vessel (religion) is so ungodly to begin with ...
thought provoking piece...
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Exactly. Good to see ya still around poppa. Thanks for stopping by, truly.
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oops posted the orig in wrong place,
lets try this again.
no apologies necesarry by any means. i love that surreal mytical sybolism in lofty language and unique imagery, very much. and i am often prone to the same dilemma of Gack as you call it. as far as who its up to... well that s the true beauty of abstract, its up to both and both are right, and both are wrong, its about all that and then some.
and yah, groovy, glad ya like,
Adrian.
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No more one-eyed...
a sharp staple to the eye. a wavy providential retreat combs back striper stints between gurus of spiritual realms and the coffee grounds of mesmerized marketeers riding religion's rollercoaster into a soundwave of audiophiles bound for listening prison, or escorted into studios beyond our control. excellent stitching - got thread? obviously, you do.
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thread i have, but what I lack is a complete lack of understanding for what the f you just said LOL> i believe a commentary upon the commercialization of religion neatly bound in a swirl of wild language manipulation and surreal imagery. but that is a guess cuz you lost me about 5 miles back.
plz do translate. listening prisons i assume represents dogmatic lock down of id, between gurus of ... the various belief structures throught the world. a complete wtf on the first sentence
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my aplogies - i tend to swirl in the ethereal convents of word play, thereby losing my potential audience with the first strayed thoughts that amble out of my mouth or through my fingertips. My commentary is full of "Gack". Translation, I believe, is up to the reader, not the writer. And if that's the case, then I'm already used to limited readership and selective nit-pickings into realms of certain "understanding".
I am finding that I know more about nothing than I never thought I needed to know before. great poem there, Mr.
~ Ed
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Wow. I see your point, God is everywhere and yet so hard to find since there are so many different ideas about who God is. But in the end, most religions do share that common thread of looking for spirituality and teaching that people should aim to be better and what better is.
I agree that God is in nature and in personal spirituality.
"In God I do trust,
but in man,
surely you jest"
Well said! -
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nods n smiles
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Your title drew me, your truths kept me reading. Excellent words. I did enjoy this message so much.
No matter the label and the labels do roll on . . . how true how true how true.
each one self righteous in its definition of 'the only ' one. I will stop here. Truly an enjoyable read this night. Thank you. ~Pamela
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your quite welcome Pam, glad to ya enjoyed the cynical humor of my personal favorite dogma rant.
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Awesome. Does this unrepentant incorrigable atheist good to see a breath of appreciation for this beautiful world and an irreverant look at organized religion. Ohhh god, you devil!!!!
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and then some .. ehehehhehe
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WOW!!!
Even if you didnt add me as a favorite i would have commented and read your work a long time ago... I dont know why I havent
You have the best metaphors:
Another sees Christ as just another carpenter's workmans' comp case,
while opening mouths for symbolic cannabalism.
*gasps*
speechless.
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This is it!
This is the winner! God has fallen down and is laughing in the aisles. You puny, insignificant mortal you have done what no man has done before. You brought God to his knees. This is a well-written piece that deserves 'just' recognition. So duck as the thunderbolt hits. Its carrying your gold trophy.
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Awesome, so glad you so thoroughly enjoyed it. Thank you for the honours. *ducks bolt* Thanks for bringin such an interesting contest. Dig ur nick by the way. Surreal.
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most people refer to god as he or him, but you refered to it as she and her and it sounded better than the him most poeple use
the way you explained the relgious figures, was absolutly outstanding
usually i only see religious poetry as pointless shit, but this one, is an exception
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glad to step it out tthe box fer ya DS
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