{"id":1581,"date":"2014-06-30T15:20:30","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T20:20:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1581"},"modified":"2014-06-30T15:29:11","modified_gmt":"2014-06-30T20:29:11","slug":"poem-never-wanton-too-leave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/30\/poem-never-wanton-too-leave\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Never Wanton Too Leave"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the tree of life<\/strong>
\nI take my leave<\/strong>
\nLooking not<\/strong>
\nTo politicians, generals, celebrities, or philanthropists<\/strong>
\nFor salvation<\/strong>
\nRe-lying not<\/strong>
\nOn triangulating hourly opinions<\/strong>
\nIn gluttonous cynicism<\/strong>
\nThat fuels no bodies everywhere<\/strong>
\nBut their own<\/strong>
\nLeaning not<\/strong>
\nOn skulking intelligence<\/strong>
\nAnd hulking legions<\/strong>
\nBulwarking the eternal fewed<\/strong>
\nWith the shock and awe of epic fauxs<\/strong>
\nNot giving my nod<\/strong>
\nTo looking glass likenesses<\/strong>
\nEndorsing make up<\/strong>
\nFor broken weighs of life<\/strong>
\nNor counting on<\/strong>
\nOversized purses<\/strong>
\nItemizing riddled coffers<\/strong>
\nCurmudgeoning us to death<\/strong>
\nOnly bequeathing<\/strong>
\nClose-fisted sermonettes<\/strong>
\nInstead<\/strong>
\nI look to<\/strong>
\nNeighbors<\/strong>
\nAs well as I kin<\/strong>
\nAnd friends in deed<\/strong>
\nAwe ways in courage<\/strong>
\nSo gorge us<\/strong>
\nProne to gentleness<\/strong>
\nTo won another<\/strong>
\nA parent<\/strong>
\nAnd a peer<\/strong>
\nIn our wake<\/strong>
\nWe gather intimately<\/strong>
\nCultivating our bounty<\/strong>
\nWhere everyone is a head<\/strong>
\nAnd strangers honor guessed<\/strong>
\nOnly kneading dough<\/strong>
\nTo break bread<\/strong>
\nRound the table<\/strong>
\nAt know time<\/strong>
\nTuring on us a test<\/strong>
\nKnot on your life<\/strong>
\nLeaving no one behind<\/strong>
\nNever wanton too leave<\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem strikes again at my frequent theme of the inane versus the meaningful, pitting the superficial and dehumanizing forces of the powers that be against more intimate and personal ways of relating to one another.\u00a0 The poem also intimates the bounty of healthy human community that wins hands down (and fists down) against lesser machinations of the political, military, famous, and monied.<\/p>\n

I feel obliged to disclose the most obscure pun in this poem, lest it be gravely mistaken as a typo or such.\u00a0 Turing on us a test<\/strong> is an alliterative pun for turning (e.g., turning the tables), but also a reference to the Turing test which is used to distinguish a human being from a machine (human intelligence versus artificial intelligence).<\/p>\n

I find the notion that humans are just complicated dirt as both bizarre and dangerously foolish.\u00a0 If humanity cannot distinguish between itself and inanimate matter, then we should hold very little expectations for humans and any higher potential.\u00a0 The rationale that seems compelling to some, that we are merely some type of biological computer, leaves the human heart empty, sterile, out of reach, and puzzlingly irrelevant.\u00a0 Anyone committed to reducing all human friendship, love, joy, hope, and faith to deterministic factors (mere machinations) is an amputator of humanity and a denier of the mystery of life.\u00a0 My hope with this poem is to remind folks that living into the mysterious grace of life, particularly human life, when shared, not denied, leads to growth of said life.<\/p>\n

The title of this poem, and its final line, Never wanton too leave<\/em>,beckons the metaphor of the tree of life.\u00a0 We are each a leaf on the tree of life, we cannot live alone yet we are an important part.\u00a0 There is both a profound humility and sacred value in being human.\u00a0 May we never be less than we were created to be, nor overblown, in finding our way in life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the tree of life I take my leave Looking not To politicians, generals, celebrities, or philanthropists For salvation Re-lying not On triangulating hourly opinions In gluttonous cynicism That fuels no bodies everywhere But their own Leaning not On skulking … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,15],"tags":[294,331,198,458,385,88,432,460,263,431,388,305,293,313,79,359,475,273,486,187,438,417,658,94,17,110,114,128,575,529],"class_list":["post-1581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-awe","tag-community","tag-courage","tag-cynicism","tag-death","tag-dehumanizing","tag-faith","tag-foolish","tag-grace","tag-heart","tag-hope","tag-humanity","tag-humility","tag-inane","tag-joy","tag-life","tag-logic","tag-love","tag-meaning","tag-military","tag-mind","tag-mystery","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-political","tag-power","tag-powers-that-be","tag-sacred","tag-superficial","tag-time"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Never Wanton Too Leave | Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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