Talking to the Burning Bush (revision 1)

[theirishsea]

Seriously,
Not flippantly, not diffidently,
But earnestly
Trying
To stand up to the burning bush
listen like Moses to what an anthropomorphic God wants,
speak like Job from the heart to the injustices,
the horrid teasing, the flaws of creation,
the sadomasochism of prey and predator,
the natural law, a weather indifferent----

The universe has multiple personality disorders
We want to be as invisible, as innocuous for as long as possible,
Though eventually we will offend,
Maybe just our physical presence,
The bulb and sag of our flesh, our thoughts so hideous
To the higher and lower powers, but
We just want to get along, as long as we can,
Not have some crazed person knock on the door,
Fire an AK-47,
Yell "God is Great"
And turn what was intended as a prayer of gratitude
Into a curse.

Is it not possible to sit with the Savior over a cup of coffee?
Talk about the mundane evil that has to be forgiven every day?
I think I could talk to the human part of Jesus,
Hope that He instantaneously relays my concerns, hopes, fears
To that Divine roar in the sky accompanied by so many angels
That flurry down softly like snow and chill one’s adoration
With the cold power and Presence of the otherworld
So that the spiritually naked human shivers,
Eternity not conducive to conversation.

Too much costuming in the latter days of civilization,
Mitres, chasubles, hair shirts,
And we shouldn't have to think like a first century Jew
Unless we want to understand THEIR thinking.
After all didn’t Boyle, Lavoisier, Niels Bohr, Einstein
Chang our views of the universe, and
It is not magic on our level of experience
That moves us and through us
But chemicals and gamma rays and maybe neutrinos,
And the moral compass has been reset.
We aren't one chosen people or Church
But a whole humanity
whipping around a star
That tracks through the gravity of a galaxy
That swirls itself on a filament in such macro-space
That we hardly have the slightest grasp.

God, it would be good to have a talk,
Though talking to You is like balancing on the rim
Of the Grand Canyon on one foot, or floating alone
Somewhere far from land in the wide ocean.
We need the human part of Jesus to sit with us,
Enjoy His coffee and if teaching us anything
Doing it with kindness and good friend camaraderie.
Don't be an oligarch, please;
Be a good conservative Democrat who really cares.

The world needs saving again
now.

[theirishsea]

Sometimes when you go for clarification you can kill the poetry. I hope I haven't done that. Certainly this version is better than a previous version but is it too prosy ? Could be. There is such a fine line to walk on. You want to have complexity expressed with simplicity---certainly not the other way around.

The best poems are self-contained. I think it may be a fault that a poem's meaning and emotional impact has to rely on to much information and context extraneous to the poem.

And, of course, a writer doesn't want to boor people with his work.

[Kailashana]

The way I see it, this is Ginsberg.

In this modern reality, however Ginsberg might as well talk to the hand. However, America did approve gay marriage, so I don't know what Ginsberg would say.

There would be a little paring down of, imo, superfluous verbiage. For example, the last, simply : the world needs saving again.

[theirishsea]

In this modern reality, however Ginsberg might as well talk to the hand.


Don't know what this means?

[theirishsea]

Kailashana, except in an entirely different context.

[Tjflowers80]

Feel like life at my job everyday. It elaborates well.

[dune]

We aren't one chosen people or Church
But a whole humanity
whipping around a star
That tracks through the gravity of a galaxy
That swirls itself on a filament in such macro-space
That we hardly have the slightest grasp.

You're right. Battling Gods won't do us any good. It seems faith, like everything else, must adapt, evolve, lest it perish or self-destruct.

[saw]

I believe most of the institutions many came to trust have betrayed us....covered up pedophilia alone is asking a lot of the faithful ....not to mention the failure of schools, the corruption of banks, the manipulation by the supreme puppet masters... I agree with dune's comment, ancient words and concepts must adapt

[theirishsea]

Saw, let's see what the Pope's visit brings.

[theirishsea]

My next revision will cut down on the superfluous verbiage which got attached because the whole undergirding structure was criticized and there was a need to spell out everything. Well, poetry is not a position paper. It should be as spontaneous as a heart's beat.

Not ready to put the next revision online yet (as if anybody is waiting breathlessly).