A Thanksgiving Prayer

[Dave The Dov]

Courtesy Of William S. Burroughs. Enjoy!!!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7Z_08o108E


For John Dillinger
In hope he is still alive
Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1986

Thanks for the wild turkey and the Passenger Pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts

thanks for a Continent to despoil and poison —

thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger —

thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin, leaving the carcass to rot —

thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes —

thanks for the AMERICAN DREAM to vulgarize and falsify until the bare lies shine through —

thanks for the KKK, for nigger-killing lawmen feeling their notches, for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces —

thanks for "Kill a Queer for Christ" stickers —

thanks for laboratory AIDS —

thanks for Prohibition and the War Against Drugs —

thanks for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business —

thanks for a nation of finks — yes, thanks for all the memories... all right, let's see your arms... you always were a headache and you always were a bore —

thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.
_________________
1920 recession

[bohonato]

Amen.

[Arcadia]

is it thanksgiving?
do you thank to father/god, the son or the holy spirit?

[jimboloco]

for decent church-going women with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces —

my grandmother Truth got mean and bitter
she once told me she was glad my dad never had to live to see me "like you are"

but we got the antidote
mercy
arcadia
we give thanks to the great spirit
and to sentient beings everywhere
unless you come from norman rockwell's america
and live for whitewashed tradition only.

[whimsicaldeb]

is it thanksgiving?
do you thank to father/god, the son or the holy spirit?

I do - the Holy Spirit.

....

Dave what you posted is not a prayer.

These are prayers ...
(for best results, read them out loud)

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love;

For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
It is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Saint Francis Of Assisi

...

Or if that one's too much, try this one...

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

The Serenity Prayer

...

Or you can use the shortest, non religious prayer of all... find something you're grateful for, of about, (such as having this board to come to and post) and say:

Thank You

...

btw - fyi - any one of these three prayers can be the only prayer you'll ever need, because they work.

Try them, instead of the “prayer” you posted and see if they don’t bring up a sense of peace and joy inside of you … instead of anger, hatred, or despair. I invite you to feel the difference.

[Dave The Dov]

whimsicaldeb a prayer is a prayer is a prayer break out and break away. I direct to watch the movie "The Ice Storm" in it Christina Ricci is ask to give a Thanksgiving prayer from her father played by Kevin Kline. She gives the prayer some what along the lines of the one that William S. Burroughs has given.
_________________
Mercedes SL Class

[whimsicaldeb]

whimsicaldeb a prayer is a prayer is a prayer ...

No they are not and only a fool would believe something that and you're not foolish. Or - are you?

[jimboloco]

It is a non-traditional prayer, by Burroughs,
really a lament, something written in ele·gi·ac tones,
yet eloquent and deserving of prayerful intonation.

[whimsicaldeb]

It is a non-traditional prayer, by Burroughs,
really a lament, something written in ele·gi·ac tones,
yet eloquent and deserving of prayerful intonation.

It sucks!

[jimboloco]

it does
unfortunately /:?\
we give thanks for our awareness
and compassion
in the light

[whimsicaldeb]

it does
unfortunately /:?\
we give thanks for our awareness
and compassion
in the light

Not me ... that's not what I do.

I'm not going to say “thank you” to things like AIDS, and cancer, or the types of greed, misery, and misuse of power that causes the mass slaughtering of people: past & present! No way … no matter how “Zen” or "Lightworker" it is to do so.

I’m thankful for and celebrate life, and the good things in it, now! And I don’t a need this type of prayer, or art form, to remind me of all the misery this world contains … I already have a clear understand of it’s depth.

I want to celebrate life this thanksgiving, (everyday really!) and so I shall.

If Dave wants to celebrate his thanksgiving reading this poem/prayer then that’s his prerogative. I have mine, he has his, you have yours. I like mine better (as I should, it is my life afterall) and furthermore I think mine's the best (and of course I would!). So there!


(feels good to laugh! Not at you, or dave - I'm laughing over this whole thing)

… I just want to remind everyone; there is good art, and not so good art; good satire and not so good satire; and the distinction of which lies in the eyes of the beholder – and in this case my beholding eye has responded to Dave’s posted prayer as : It Sucks!

It’s an opinion … it’s my opinion, and goes out there with all the other billions and trillions of opinions flying around out there and means absolutely NOTHING!

Can we move on now?

[Doreen Peri]

I'm pretty sure the Burroughs "prayer" was sarcastic.

Who could be thankful for all that shit?

Nobody.

That was his point, I guess.

I donno. I've never been a Burroughs fan. I've tried but I just don't get him.

[mnaz]

if it's a "prayer", it's a rant of a "prayer" -- aggressive & mean-spirited in places, but also pointing up some bigoted, paranoid shortcomings of u.s. political/religious culture that are arguably deserving of the rant.... different strokes.... that's what makes a horse race, i guess.

[Doreen Peri]

Last Thanksgiving, Dave posted a similar Burroughs piece and we had a similar discussion about it

If anybody's interested in it, here's a link

http://studioeight.tv/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=1091

I guess I'm just a Burroughs dummy... I don't really get it unless it's totally sarcastic. In the other piece I linked to above, he's thankful for the KKK!

lol

Whatever... each to his or her own, as mnaz said.

Yes, to be pointing out the bigoted and political/religious shortcomings is ranting for sure, but it's not prayerful... it's GOT to be sarcasm.

I tried my best to watch that movie... the one where the typewriter turns into an asshole that talks to him... and even though it had some really cool special effects, I had to turn it off about half way through. What was that movie called? It's his book...umm... Naked Lunch maybe? Tried to read the book a coupla times to but no go. Couldn't get through it.

I'll probably get booed by all those beat generation fans for not being a Burroughs fan but hey, sorry, gotta be honest about it.

All that said, Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

I have a lot to be thankful for.

I'm thankful you're all in my life for one thing. Hope to meet all of you in person one day.

[Diana Moon Glampers]

AMen on the AMen bohonato
Thanks for posting it Dave. I appreciate Burroughs more now.

It sounds like a prayer when he reads it. Hard to get the feeling from just reading the text. I am stoopid about religion but it sounds like a lament to me. Is not lament a form of prayer? . WHo is a lament directed to if not god?

Reminded me of Clay's satire, he always trips my trigger.





I feel like god’s own fool.


But the fool on the hill,
Sees the sun going down.
And the eyes in his head,
See the world spinning around.

George Santayana Perhaps the only true dignity of man is his capacity to despise himself. ...

ten four jimbo now I remember why the word lament came to mind

It is a non-traditional prayer, by Burroughs,
really a lament, something written in ele·gi·ac tones,
yet eloquent and deserving of prayerful intonation.

I had to listen to it to feel it.

Crazy mike used to tell me that Man proposes and God disposes
Homeboy say God proposes and Man disposes.

I am thankful to be a thing called alive
One day I will be thankful to be a thing called dead.