Friday, December 22, 2006

CBE: Pharisees

Another Chinese Brush Experiment: the poet can only go forward and not change a single word except for grammar or spelling. Enjoy the roughness of unfiltered verse, unlike my usual formal posts, which, surprisingly, are usually just as rough in terms of immediate composition.



Pharisees

Oh you brood of vipers with your venomous hippocracy,
Steaming in the waft of your self-righteousness
Above the artichokes that take so long to cook.
You don't tremble at the tripartite God.

I went to you once, to an elder
For advice about dating and whatnot
He decided my girlfriend was an abomination
While his wife reminded him of his own petting (early in their relationship).

Should I countenance the religious with anything but scorn?
Should I lick their boots for a scrap of forgiveness?
I do not think the humble know them.
Give me the humble every time.

The sun rises on the righteous and unrighteous.
The sun is implacable in its fairness.
The gold disk illuminates the dark corners
Of human lies, traditions, protections, evasions.

This would be a moral poem if it had a moral.
But it is a moral poem, if deceivers are understood.
I knew a man once with a thousand Krugerands.
He also owned semi-automatic rifles and taught Sunday School.

Do we need people like this to advance religion?
The slavery of the Indians to the preternatural host?
The incorporation of folk beliefs into the bleeding Jesus?
The mother gods become the blue and white Mary?

Fuck the systems, fuck the gods.
True light comes from true light, there is no mistaking it.
It cuts the soul with a diamond-edged blade
And leaves a man with nothing except a beggar's bowl.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:54 AM PST

    Merry Christmas Eve, CE.

    May your demons take a brief hiatus in 2007. I think they've earned it due to over-work.

    "As introspection's such a slog,
    I think out loud now on my blog."

    Really, I enjoy your wit and grace under pressure.

    take care
    norm

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:30 AM PST

    kcnuvoCE:

    You are never hard to find, my friend. I've thought of you often and fondly, recallng some of the better days I've had.

    I've not submitted or written anything new since late 2004. Longevity has never been my strong suit.

    It is good to see you are still at it. I hope this Christmas finds you and yours well, CE.

    Ken Ashworth

    ReplyDelete
  3. :)

    Liked it.

    Hope the seasonal event wasn't rats, but bunnies.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Another interesting poem, CE - and a happy new year to you.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thank you all. I have pretty much shut down for the holidays. So good to hear from Ken Ashworth, a talented poet, although he hasn't written since 2004. Shame! Good to see your photo with your comment, Twitch. Norm, I do think this year will be better. So humans always hope.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ken? Ken ASHWORTH???

    Holy crap. You're still out there?

    Geez, I miss you, man.

    I miss you and all the old gang at Melic.

    Gosh, you have no idea how my heart leapt, yes, leapt just now when I saw your name here.

    It's damned good to know you're still out there, Ash.

    I'm smiling.

    Merry Christmas to you, sir.

    And to you, too, CE.

    ReplyDelete

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