Miserere Mei

Image via Wikipedia

Linked to dVerse Poets Pub for Crit Friday, looking forward to input from the talented poets Luke Prater and Beth Winter.

Join up and learn about the value of positive critique!

 

 

Miserere Mei

Creation emerges from primal sea,
from deep abyss, from virgin womb.

Chaos to creation to chaos.
Destruction to cosmic rebirth.

Atrahasis built an ark. Utnapishtim
built an ark. Noah built an ark.

Chaos to creation to chaos.
Destruction to cosmic rebirth.

In flooded fields, on watery plains
humanity has met its fate.

Chaos to creation to chaos.
Destruction to cosmic rebirth.

Waters of the Jordan, Baptismal
cleansing, Water of life.

Chaos to creation to chaos.
Destruction to cosmic rebirth.

Purify, cleanse, receive new life.
Plunge into dark waters, the unconscious.

Miserere mei, Domine
Miserere mei, Dr. Freud.

Flood myths are part of many epochs and cultures. The cleansing symbolism of water prevails in ancient and modern religious beliefs and speak to the innate sense that we, as humans, have of our inadequacy. This poem draws on stories from Sumerian, Mesopotamian and Hebrew traditions, as well as Freudian psychology.

I wrote this in response to a prompt from One Stop Poetry http://onestoppoetry.com and am linking to One Shot Wednesday. Sadly, this wonderful blog is going to hibernate. All of us owe many thanks to the wonderful poets who labored tirelessly to make One Stop Poetry such a success and a welcoming home for so many of us.

Hopefully many will continue to be active and I take this opportunity to encourage you to imbibe with fellow poets at dVerse Poets’ Pub: http://dversepoets.com/ a new site where you will encounter many of your friends from One Stop Poetry.

SiS’s Daily Haiku Challenge: Sea of Galilee

Submitted to SiS’ Daily Haiku Challenge: http://pendownmythought.blogspot.com/p/haiku-challenge.html

Sea of Galilee

On Galilee’s shore
an empty boat waits in hope
empowered by Light.

This image immediately brought to mind the shores of the Sea of Galilee in Israel where Jesus walked and taught with His disciples, perhaps, at times from a boat. The light that suffuses the picture made me think of one of the names by which Jesus is known, the Light of the world.

Rediscovery-Jingle’s Poetry Potluck and One Shot Wednesday

Submitted to Jingle’s Poetry Potluck. The theme this week is dreams and visions. Check out the many poets at http://jinglepoetry.blogspot.com/

…and to One Shot Wednesday at http://oneshotpoetry.blogspot.com/

Rediscovery

Emerging from this fog
(induced by absinthe or perhaps unknowing?)
I fly in my balloon, the landing rough
in rockiest terrain.

Quixote I am not but savor
tastes of honey from the gentle smoothness
of earth’s ivory skin.

I deconstruct the faith
that, as a child gave cause for desperation,
pursue Elijah’s chariot, with fiery wings
to worlds oblivious of tragedy,

return like Sandalphon or Phoenix
brilliant in life’s kaleidoscopic dance
of raging color.

Withhold your judgment now, dear friend.
The day may come when, too, you will embrace
my vision, and welcome in the Logos.

Note: This poem was written using the prompt I posted on Monday. You may want to check it out. The random selection of words contributes a bit to the obscurity. I confess to adding words to this one for the sake of some cohesiveness. In the bible, the prophet Elijah was taken into heaven in a fiery chariot. It is said that he has returned to earth as the Archangel Sandalphon who is the overseer of the below direction (the earth). Logos is Greek for Word and is used in this context to refer to Jesus as the Word of God as you will read in the first chapter of the Gospel of John. Eventually I will, no doubt, revise this poem and lose of few of the arbitrary words. Should you decide to try this prompt, you would make me happy if you left a link in comments.

Sunday 160–”El Shaddai”*

 

Photo: David Slotto

 

Just enough coffee to jump-start the day.
quiet time to remember
why I’m here—
soul nourishment to survive.
Enough goodness to share.
Life enough for learning love.

*In Hebrew, the word Shad means “breast” and Dai means “enough.” El Shaddai is one of the holy names of  God and alludes to the sufficiency of the Divine. Its attribution suggests the feminine aspects of God.

Originally submitted for Monkey Man’s Sunday 160 in which your entry is exactly 160 characters, including spaces. Check it out at http://petzoldspracticalprose.blogspot.com/

Submitted once again for Big Tent Poetry on 12/3/10–this week’s prompt is to write a poem to the theme of “Enough.”  http://bigtentpoetry.org/