Hard Lessons

[Lightning Rod]

lessons arrive in pairs
sometimes triads or quartets
but in groups like those compare
and contrast questions that
you hated so much on exams

when things start happening in groups
I know that either karma is jacking off
or god is in a pedagogical mood
in short, I'm about to learn something
that likely I don't want to know

requiring all the attendant questions:
is this new, or am I just remembering it?
common sense or technical knowledge?
why do I need to understand this?
never mind, I know it's futile to protest

What use are easy lessons?
no more than easy lovers
I know what to do with easy money--
buy trouble and other things we don't really want
maybe that's the lesson

[judih]

hey i've never met easy money
my karma's off busy watching Citizen Kane
re-runs of Lucy, Twilight Zone
way deep in something else

i've had my life lessons in full-blast hard knocks
cinematic widescreen
but the sounds turned down
my ears are plugged, karma knows i need more time

[stilltrucking]

"In a dark time, the eye begins to see,..."

god is in a pedagogical mood

in short, I'm about to learn something
that likely I don't want to know

You don't have to worry about stuff you don't want to know.

"...we are wonderfully made..." that way.

You can know it a hundred times and still repress it.

is this new, or am I just remembering it?

Excellent work Clay
just one parting shot
which god?
I assume you mean the Hebrew G_d

but there is also a god here among The Things of New Spain that much can be learned from

The Enemy of Both Sides

I think this my sixth attempt to reply to this poem. I have deleted the other five, probably this one too.

[tarbaby]

"In a dark time, the eye begins to see,..."
Theodore Roethke

god is in a pedagogical mood

in short, I'm about to learn something
that likely I don't want to know

You don't have to worry about stuff you don't want to know.

"...we are wonderfully made..." that way.

You can know it a hundred times and still repress it.

is this new, or am I just remembering it?

Excellent work Clay
just one parting shot
which god?
I assume you mean the Hebrew G_d

but there is also a god here among The Things of New Spain that much can be learned from

The Enemy of Both Sides

I think this my sixth attempt to reply to this poem. I have deleted the other five, probably this one too.

[Lightning Rod]

thanks for the comments, judih and jack

I'm rarely specific about my gods
because they are often interchangeable
I never saw the sense in monotheism
it's the theological excuse for dictatorship

the Greek model is more lively, many gods
gods that have faults and foibles and fight amongst themselves
and play with mortals by whim or fiat
make as many mischiefs as miracles

[judih]

(i'd like to see the posts that still-t deleted)

greek gods are picturesque, but hindu gods are more colourful. african gods are everywhere which is also a reasonable assumption.

my point? no point.

[Arcadia]

enjoyed the poem & the replies, gracias!

[SmileGRL]

sometimes the universe just doesn't take no for an answer. & someone once told me we send ourselves messages/lessons exactly when we need them. who knows...but i like the idea.

[stilltrucking]

Clay I deleted a couple of rambles that seemed wildly off topic even for me, I thought I had tagged your poem, vandalized it. So I deleted them.

I don't know what this poem cost you I mean what is going on in your life but I thought it was excellent.

I don't learn hard lessons unless they come on the end of a two by four with a rusty nail sticking out of it.


Here is one of the deleted posts judih, just because you asked me to.

I liked that poem a lot Clay, I deleted several replies to it because I did not want to distract from it. Or as you say "tag it" Two years ago I was very frightened, I was getting a cat scan for that x ray shadow in my lung. Now I take a girm pleasure in being back in the same situation,

I am fearless these days, I can serve as a horrible example.

Another of the deleted posts had to do with apophenia. I have not found that one yet.

[mnaz]

They're coming in bunches at the moment. And this time thing... the hardest one of all.

[tarbaby]

Time!!!
Is not what it used to be.

"I was killing time and it was dying hard" Raymond Chandler
"killing time 'til my very own death" Iron Maiden

How do you know if
"god is in a pedagogical mood" or is it just apophenia

[justwalt]

http://youtu.be/8ZH9ebAZouk

[stilltrucking]

"The Hindus built the temple
The Hebrews wired it for sound"
I heard the madman say



the point in some sacred geometry
for madmen only

I suppose

That is why G d needs us.

[creativesoul]

i cannot take my ears off you- you are the magic in the man- the write in the wrong- the beauty in the beast- never stop- if i was a rich woman i would try to lure you into a place where all you did was write and be comfortable= and well- i guess that is why i am not a rich woman because the tempation to act like queen that knows what is best would stifle my creative thriving juices- keep on my friend- you inspire me