http://africaunfinished.blogspot.com/ On Redemption, Fireblossom Friday prompt
see Peggy Goetz's Poem One by One: "...When one tiny hole
is patched a fist blow breaks another..."
Sinkhole
L. Edgar Otto 11 October, 2013
The Earth's crust shrinks as its core expands
cracks like the emptiness of Heaven, yoke of hell fires
We still a planet all alone despite diamonded bands
abandoned in between, our whole world failed stars
Redemption, green tea consumed so chains, rations
to give back in gaudy glass books of green stamps
Abandon all hope, the gospel shelter, entering therein
lives rebuilt, renewed, admit all are born in sin
For the tramps have nowhere else to go to sleep, to dream
save scarce wine, relieved in stalls or dustbins
The money changers glean those already broken and
they come from far away, tokens to a Field of Dreams
We know at the rock bottom survival will kick in but
at what cost the scars, the fall apart, pain to rise again
Indentured for a year, toss all sentimental, cherished
feral now your once family cats, yours no human bonds
They called it the House of Ruth, married to the Lord
all the virgins shaved and cloaked in black that your
Religion becomes their religion, hot dishes, deloused
pregnant black teen in the rain sang hymns too ghetto
She does not exist, I send her home, back to Chicago
like I called the police, a blind man sent out in snow
Not paid past his thirty days, sorting rummage clothes
they did not sign away threats to face the nuthouse
But how many times can the stony stardust graze the sun
in one lifetime to reach oblivion in last of waters?
I cannot write again my thousand poems, my junk
auctioned off by fraud, those who stole contributions
My hundred songs, children's memories, the landfill
I homeless again, they charge me with illegal dumping
Despite no bands, locked out of storage yet it paid
thieves scavaging bailment, I the one forgiving them
* * * * *
Footnote- It was only Dave King that gave me ground to carry on
somewhere in a confusion of metaphors worked in poems past
half aware I may half plagiarize myself, what we have built up
in efforts of our hearts... no imaginary garden, Dave... no more exile
from what you still give us of paradise redeemed beyond the night that
echoes full of things we half successful stars, sharing your poetry....
'Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.'
ReplyDeleteConfucius ~ my deceased father quote....and yes, the death of close person make us redeem, review our lives, to see better truth about ourselves and others... thanks for sharing
great write... redemption comes in many forms...
ReplyDeletePeople should be hones about their work and never ever steal others work. You really brought it up nicely.
ReplyDeleteThis is a GLORIOUS write! The pain and survival strategies of the broken, and "how many times can the stony stardust graze the sun
ReplyDeletein one lifetime to reach oblivion", which is brilliant. The two closing stanzas bring it all home. And I love your note about Dave. He will be missed.
I love the cosmic feeling brought in...I've been watching a lot of programs about space lately...this resonated with me,
ReplyDelete"But how many times can the stony stardust graze the sun
in one lifetime to reach oblivion in last of waters?
I cannot write again my thousand poems,"
to end it with "forgiving them" was powerful.
ReplyDeleteA kaleidoscope of painful, disturbing images, all the more so because it seems as if there is an endless supply to draw from, each one replaced by another before it really even can be taken in--and yet, like the narrator at the end, to all of us, even at the 11th hour, I believe redemption can come.
ReplyDeleteHedgewitch called it perfect "A kaleidoscope of Images" - well done .
ReplyDeleteThanks for being part of Fireblossom Friday.
ReplyDelete"We still a planet all alone despite diamonded bands
ReplyDeleteabandoned in between, our whole world failed stars"
Such a bleak opening...is there redemption? Can one forgive any trespass?
Sometimes, the creative force brings us into being far from others by that very isolation so it seems our emptiness inside came into being with us... is there redemption? Is the universe for us, neutral, or against us- we the monkeys on its back or it it we who paint upon the sky our cup of lonliness... yours the essential question to see thru the glass darkly if it half full or empty. So we engage the miracle of life somewhere caught between these issues of balances or unstable... What can I say but that we and the universe of love as addiction fights it as well... but corner someone, keep them in a cage...the human spirit rebels aware that only God forgives... but brothers don't.
DeleteI homeless again, they charge me with illegal dumping
ReplyDeleteDespite no bands, locked out of storage yet it paid
thieves scavaging bailment, I the one forgiving them
Perfect ending Edgar! The homeless already disadvantaged still have to take it. Seeing it from their point of view and their plight is a noble thing! Great write!
Hank
Wow--this is so rich with imagery and loss and longing--it reminds me at time of a Carl Hiassen novel, only not comic! But with that sense of the road and the unfairness of so much. Very well done - very sad. I also think of that Barbara Ehrenbach book - I may have her name wrong--Nickel and Dimed-- k.
ReplyDelete