Tink's Seven Deadly Sins

[Tinker]

Ok, the Seven Deadly Sins

1. gluttony
2. envy
3. sloth
4. pride
5. lust
6. anger
7. greed
8. lists often include an additional sin "despair" or "sorrow"

Tink's Seven Deadly Sins

1. Panacea
    
   A half gallon tub
   of almond praline ice cream and a spoon
   is a glutton's prize.
   The creamy smooth substance
   slips between the lips
   with cool comfort,
   vanilla silk.
   An occasional almond crunch
   sends a burst
   of brown sugar over the tongue
   to be held there
   with all reverence
   until it melts
   from the mouth.
   A bite, another,
   a slow swirling lick
   and the magic slides
   into that empty space
   that expands with ease
   to accommodate
   the honeyed panacea,
   The void never quite filled.
    
2. More
    
   Her word images paint magic
   on the page, the rhythm of his words slide
   over his lines and wind in and out
   of the reader's heart. Another captivates
   with his tales and another takes me to exotic
   places in five lines.
   I want to do that.
    
   I have made my place
   among these poets and more who touch me so,
   but Oh!
   how I wish I could be more.
    
3. Now Here is a No Brainer
    
   A stack of paper
   sits on my desk, menial tasks
   to be sloughed off to underlings,
   the stack still sits
   until someone takes it away.
    
   A cup with a couple of spoons
   and a fork, two plates
   and an empty milk carton fill the sink.
   I should at least throw out the carton.
    
   Oh and my bed,
   I have an excuse,
   I wasn't the last to rise.
    
   Need I go on?
    
4. Way Too Personal
    
   I try to practice prayer on bended knee.
   I need it and I often avoid it,
   I forget to remember the Source.
    
   I understand and honor humility,
   intellectually I accept it as a necessary virtue.
   all too often
   I fail to excercise it.
    
   It is just that I have accomplished so much,
   looking back, I amaze myself sometimes.
   I know, I know, "return to the Source".
   I fail to return to the Source.
    
   Notice all of the I's in this missive.
   I prefer to ignore them.
   I choose not to notice them,
   but niggling in the back of my mind,
   I keep waiting for the fall.
    
5. Inuendo
    
   I know you are all waiting for this,
   do you really think I am going to bare myself?
   (No pun intended)
    
   I am an old married woman, love my man,
   but my libido is young and single,
   with dreams independent,
   its acting on the latter, that is sin of the flesh.
   (No confession today.)
    
   I don't like pain for me or him,
   I'm not into bondage though I like control,
   (No, that shouldn't surprise you.)
    
   I have had moments I'm not proud of,
   more moments I've had a lot of fun with,
   I like it playful, spontaneous, and long. . .
   (No pun intended.)
    
6. I'm Not Mad!
    
   It pisses me off I can't
   come up with a clever idea
   to write about on anger.
   The problem is
   I don't get that mad.
    
   Now "mad", doesn't that mean crazy?
   I suppose it is that crazy kind
   that exemplifies the sin
   and I am proud to say, not me.
   Oops, didn't I just write
   about pride?
    
   I suppose a vendetta
   is another type
   to watch for,
   but revenge is too much work
   if you ask me.
   Oops, a sloth never retaliates.
    
   And then, envy can morph
   into anger if you don't
   get what you desire
   but instead it pushes me
   to accomplish more, not tear down.
    
   I don't like angry sex,
   no turn on for me,
   make me smile, leave sadness behind,
   I'm a glutton for happiness.
    
   So I failed this subject,
   now that can make me really mad.
   Oh that pride thing again.
    
7. I Don't Relate to Greed
    
   My husband will tell you
   my sin is
   I give too much away,
   at least he thinks so.
    
   I find it easy to gather more:
   more money
   more debt
   more family
   more projects
   more causes
   more payroll
   more charities
   more friends in need.
    
   I have been abundantly blessed,
   it is easy to share a blessing.
    
8. They Shall Be Comforted
    
   I don't get sadness as a deadly sin….
   We've all experienced it,
   lost loved ones, pets,
   we've been disappointed,
   betrayed,
   sadness is a natural response.
    
   True I can't stand a whiner,
   but they're more an irritant
   than threatening, no sin there.
    
   Jesus said:
   "Blessed are they who mourn
   for they shall be comforted."
   True, I don't feel comfortable
   on either end of this blessing,
   but not because I connect it with sin.
   How did a blessing become a curse?
   ----------------- ---Judi Van Gorder

[Frank E Gibbard]

Very interesting contribution Tink. As a non-believer I was still engaged by your personal take on the classic notion of the Biblical 7 sins in much the same way as I was, and enjoyed equally, by the film Bedazzled the early one with Raquel Welch who played the character of Lust. Your playful whilst serious engagement with each of your examples of said sins is mistressful as it were. As to style (conversational) it works very effectively for purpose I thought, a sort of poet self-portrait and an honest portrayal I presume which ain't easy IMO.

Edited May 16, 2011 by Frank E Gibbard

[dedalus]

I love this poem, Tink! It's so ... DING ... in your face! First you give us a list and then you quietly proceed to go through it. Each little mini-poem is a reflection on your own life and memories and although we were all desperately scrolling ahead for the bit on Lust ( ;) ) you headed us off neatly at the pass! I think the conception was excellent -- (well, if it WAS so obvious then why didn't someone else think of it first?) -- and the execution was low-key and mild and for this kind of poem exactly right. Well done, yourself!!

 

Brendan

[Benjamin]

Hi Tink. An excellent piece of work: easy to read, nicely balanced and above all most entertaining.

[tonyv]

Truly terrific, Tink, from composition to content. I, too, liked how you started out with the list and made separate, introspective segments for each item.

 

The work's candid objectiveness makes it an easy, enjoyable read. And the subtle unexpected shift at number seven further reinforces that it's an honest self-assessment.

 

I'm curious. How did you do this, one segment at a time or all at once? It had to be multiple sessions ...

 

Tony

[Tinker]

Hi Frank, You don't have to be a believer to understand the human pitfalls of what the catholic church dubbed the "Seven Deadly Sins". I think these are strictly created from "church" tradition, not biblical, I can't think of a reference in the Bible that points to these 7 as deadly, mortal or capital. That is "church language". But biblical, church or otherwise, most will agree the list represents common human flaws or failures that when personified in the extreme can be deadly for us all.

 

Thank you for affirming the style and focus of my attempt.

 

 

Hi Brendan, (Have you noticed I have for some time now spelled your name correctly?) Thank you so much for your nice review. Your affirmation of my work means a lot to me.

 

 

 

Hello Geoff, I am glad you found this piece entertaining. I had a lot of fun writing it.

 

 

 

Hi Tony, Thank you. Yep we write what we know and after all of these decades I have gotten to know myself pretty well. Especially my flaws. I wrote this piece as a response to a prompt I read somewhere to write about a flaw in your personality. I had just read the HBO guide and saw the Brad Pitt movie Seven was scheduled, I remembered seeing the movie years ago... (The gross image of a morbidly obese glutton slouched, murdered at a table with rotting food all around him immediately flashed in my mind.) At first I was going to pick one of the sins and address it seriously but when I started writing I started laughing at myself. I was having so much fun I decided to tackle them all and it took me a full weekend to finish it.

 

~~Tink

[JoelJosol]

The casual diction of the poem played well in contrast to what the catholic church consider serious. And ending it in a question is a clever way of an identical posting of Luther's thesis on the church door :-)

[badger11]

Very readable Tink, in concept and execution, a sense of honesty and restraint, playfulness, rather than confessional and loud and overly serious. I did wonder how you would have played a 'persona' rather than an 'I' poem.

 

badge

[abstrect-christ]

everythign's been said, nicely done.

[Tinker]

Hi Joel, Badge and AC, Thanks for reading and commenting. Just having some fun.

 

~~Tink

[badger11]

Seems there is a tradition of such poems...

 

Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861)

 

 

 

The Latest Decalogue

 

Thou shalt have one God only; who

Would tax himself to worship two?

God's image nowhere shalt thou see,

Save haply in the currency:

Swear not at all; since for thy curse

Thine enemy is not the worse:

At church on Sunday to attend

Will help to keep the world thy friend:

Honor thy parents; that is, all

From whom promotion may befall:

Thou shalt not kill; but needst not strive

Officiously to keep alive:

Adultery it is not fit

Or safe, for women, to commit:

Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat,

When 'tis so lucrative to cheat:

False witness not to bear be strict;

And cautious, ere you contradict.

Thou shalt not covet; but tradition

Sanctions the keenest competition.

 

 

 

The poem appears in two distinct manuscripts, one held by the British Museum, and the other at Harvard University. The version presented above is the one held by Harvard. Most anthologies seem to use a combination of the two versions. In addition to a slightly different parody of the ten commandments, the British Museum version ends with a parody of their summary given in the Gospel according to Matthew:

 

The sum of all is, thou shalt love,

If any body, God above:

At any rate shall never labour

More than thyself to love thy neighbour.

Edited May 27, 2011 by badger11