…the greatest poetry is revealing to the reader the beauty in something that was so simple you had taken it for granted. That, I think, is the job of the poet. And so, the simplicity of the universe … if it doesn’t drive you to poetry, it drives you to bask in the majesty of the cosmos.
Author: Franklyn Monk
Oklahoma
Franklyn Monk is in Oklahoma.
Communion
Main Content
“Stop! You must curtail your bizarre behavior,”
says the man with the stick,
“You really must,” he says
adjusting his hat.
But, he’s not talking to me,
he’s talking to the creature we become—
in the stretch back to the first realm.
“Adjust behavior and commiserate elsewhere,”
says the fat man
“You really must,” he says
poking the creature’s chest.
The creature, call us Communion,
howls indignant and turns back to the wall—
string dangling from slippery hands.
“Non-compliance is unacceptable,”
shouts the rigid man,
“Unacceptable and you must stop,” he shouts
and we pay em no mind we pay em no mind.
We are disconnected from that world,
there is only blood here and glue and string—
this creation nothing else.
Endnotes
This poem was released as a
podcast on June 7, 2014.
And now a YouTube Video
Midnight Rider
The Hardest Part Is People
A long time ago, stranded alone in a midwestern hellscape I never wanted to be a part of to begin with, before I hit rock-bottom, I joined a UU congregation.
One day we had a guest speaker and he laid this on us:
Dearest God:
The hardest part is people.
May we face them
without rancor or disappointment.
May we see the pain behind their actions
rather than the malice;
the suffering rather than the rage.And in ourselves, as we struggle
with the vise of our own desires –
may we be strengthened to a quiet heart,
to a quickened empathy, to act
in gratitude rather than need.And may we be reminded
that each time we close our hearts
to another’s, we add to the darkness;
May we be helped to always follow kindness and to always see that ours is the calling of possibilities.Let this be our prayer, guiding us toward that which is unknown but shaped by our faith.
Amen