Real Eyes

[dcmarti1]

(There are allusion to the Gnostic myths of creation and the multiple emanations of the "Unknown God". I am just in that place right now.)

When 1 is 3 or 5 or 10,

and when 1 is 4 or 12 or 24,

and when a tin of apple mango tea

is the only color in a white kitchen,

and when a sole pink flamingo

stands embedded in dying, brown grass,

and when the neighbor's lighted head

of Christ with Thorns twinkles

next to a crèche with Santa,

you realize you belong nowhere.

When 1 is 3 or 5 or 10,

and when 1 is 4 or 12 or 24,

and when your non-existent cat

refuses her name of Barbelo,

and when a liturgy that you like

but certainly do not believe

gives you the same comfort

that in former times came from the glory hole

that reeked of liquids surely not wine,

you realize you belong nowhere.

When 1 is 3 or 5 or 10,

and when 1 is 4 or 12 or 24,

and when the Jews and Atheists

you would spend Christmas with

are spread out some 2 thousand miles,

and when the mystics you'll never meet

can't help you put a patient back

into the wheelchair from which they've fallen,

and when the decorations are put away,

you realize you belong somewhere.

[Benjamin]

Evocative stuff. I found myself thinking of the creation myth of Pandora and Hope (or expectation). How the conglomerate effect of each subsequent small act of human kindness and goodwill has the ability to shape the future.. And of the frustration that lurks in our threescore years and ten.

[Tinker]

Hi Marty, Brilliant images, great use of repetition, and a piece of your soul. What more could one ask for in a poem.

 

~~Tink

[dr_con]

Agree with the above. Indeed a wonderful Gnostic, Kabbalah, Zen insight. And yes a piece of your soul, indeed.

 

Brilliant!

 

Juris

[dcmarti1]

Thank you for the kind critique. And happy new year.

 

Hi Marty, Brilliant images, great use of repetition, and a piece of your soul. What more could one ask for in a poem.

~~Tink

[dcmarti1]

I am listening to an audio CD course on gnosticism. It aided me in getting an image.

 

Agree with the above. Indeed a wonderful Gnostic, Kabbalah, Zen insight. And yes a piece of your soul, indeed.

 

Brilliant!

 

Juris

[David W. Parsley]

Hi Marty, I feel safe in asserting that the poet is back! I was moved to witness the "piece of your soul" that haunts the steps of this startlingly composed and well-crafted poem. I like the subtle music of the stanza movement, the echo of internal rhymes. No student of Gnosticism (yet), the numerology left me a little uncertain of message, but the feel of it was pronounced and lent an intense unity to the poem's growing, well, suspense!

 

Nice work,

- Dave

[dcmarti1]

Thank you. I am "kind of" back. The numbers deal with the myths about the emanations from the Invisible God, the Unknowable God. I'll leave you with that teaser. Look into the Gnosticism CD or DVD from TheGreatCourses.com

 

 

 

Hi Marty, I feel safe in asserting that the poet is back! I was moved to witness the "piece of your soul" that haunts the steps of this startlingly composed and well-crafted poem. I like the subtle music of the stanza movement, the echo of internal rhymes. No student of Gnosticism (yet), the numerology left me a little uncertain of message, but the feel of it was pronounced and lent an intense unity to the poem's growing, well, suspense!

 

Nice work,

- Dave

[tonyv]

This is impressive work, Marti. It throws religion (and the lack thereof), philosophy, mystery, and kitsch into a blender and concocts something eerily ... human!

 

Tony