{"id":1667,"date":"2014-10-12T12:55:58","date_gmt":"2014-10-12T17:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/?p=1667"},"modified":"2014-10-12T13:02:05","modified_gmt":"2014-10-12T18:02:05","slug":"poem-rare-prayer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/toppun.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/12\/poem-rare-prayer\/","title":{"rendered":"POEM: Rare Prayer"},"content":{"rendered":"

I found myself<\/strong>
\nIn rare prayer<\/strong>
\nA genus reserved for<\/strong>
\nMother’s ilk<\/strong>
\nOnly doing what<\/strong>
\nKin be done<\/strong>
\nIn udder neglect<\/strong>
\nOf that long a go<\/strong>
\nCached in<\/strong>
\nFore more sensible weighs<\/strong>
\nNow wholly saved<\/strong>
\nFor foxholes<\/strong>
\nThe mass<\/strong>
\nOf desperate men<\/strong>
\nAnd occasional women<\/strong>
\nRe-sorting<\/strong>
\nIn rare prayer<\/strong>
\nAs raw flesh exposed<\/strong>
\nWith feudal armor flailing miserably<\/strong>
\nIn stoic winsome<\/strong>
\nGod’s mourning dawns<\/strong>
\nAs initiate<\/strong>
\nSuch supplication<\/strong>
\nWith a hesitant plea<\/strong>
\nClaiming how sow little requested<\/strong>
\nAnd sow far between<\/strong>
\nOnly mildly disappointed with the crop received<\/strong>
\nIn won’s life<\/strong>
\nWith such scanty solicitations<\/strong>
\nThe ground of my being<\/strong>
\nLike an ungraceful sludge hammer cleaving diamonds<\/strong>
\nSeaming as a sedimental journey at best<\/strong>
\nA grime scene at worst<\/strong>
\nA present cut to ribbons<\/strong>
\nStairing into a box<\/strong>
\nBound for eternity<\/strong>
\nAnd still<\/strong>
\nAs I here, a response<\/strong>
\nAn uncommon sense<\/strong>
\nA peel for more<\/strong>
\nIn treat awe<\/strong>
\nEven the one<\/strong>
\nWho reveres coarse<\/strong>
\nAnd bars none<\/strong>
\nThe less<\/strong>
\nThe great<\/strong>
\nI am<\/strong>
\nFooly in chanted<\/strong>
\nSoully to that call<\/strong>
\nWhich cannot be herd<\/strong>
\nAccept bye<\/strong>
\nOne’s self<\/strong><\/p>\n

This poem was inspired by a prayerful moment at a protest to stop the BP refinery in Oregon, Ohio, from investing 2.5 billion dollars to retool to process tar sands, the dirtiest source of petroleum yet sought after by oily men. Toward the end of the demonstration, I found myself at the fence reflecting on the unlikelihood that we would be able to stop this fuelish investment in an environmentally destructive infrastructure, a generations-long commitment of resources to a dirty energy future, an asphalt super-highway to perdition.<\/p>\n

The “rare” prayer in this poem, not surprisingly has several meanings. While I quite easily, with great frequency, say a prayer of thanks, I rarely ask God for anything very specific.\u00a0 I can’t help but experience a feeling of hubris in the notion that God is waiting to align the universe according to my requests.\u00a0 Also, this is a personal spiritual practice and practical way for me to decouple from the many manipulative aspects of religion, as if God exists to serve my will.\u00a0 I am quite thrilled with God’s creation and how magnificently convenient it serves my will and purposes.\u00a0 In this sea of grace, any desire to bend the world to my will seems like disgruntlement. \u00a0 Most any traditional prayer life has been leveled by my integration into my heart of the mystic Meister Eckhart quote, “If there were but one prayer, ‘Thanks,’ would suffice.”\u00a0 However, there are the occasional moments when I feel particularly vulnerable or mournful.\u00a0 This is where the “rare” is “As raw flesh exposed.”\u00a0 The world is definitely a mournful place.\u00a0 Discord and loss are everyday experiences.\u00a0 Harmony-seekers must confront ignorance, apathy, and outright intransigence.<\/p>\n

In the face of the powers that be at BP, I can fantasize about God sending down a pillar of fire to destroy such intransigent offenders.\u00a0 Unfortunately, this perverse desire is in much too scary alignment with the very BP offenders I wish to see punished or expunged from our shared reality we call earth.\u00a0 Such greedy and spiritually lazy offenders wish nothing more than to secure their own little world from its many vulnerabilities and impinging insecurities.\u00a0 Well, my God is not a mighty fortress!\u00a0 My God is the giver of life, unmerited as we turn out to be at times.\u00a0 My God mourns with me as discord and destruction rains.\u00a0 My God is present in “it all,” yearning and wooing us to live fully, not settling for lesser dreams, half-truths, and lives broken into pieces.\u00a0 I got the answer to my prayer before I even finished it.\u00a0 As I was engaging God with talk of how I ask for stuff so infrequently, and how I don’t ask for much, I was gently but firmly and unmistakenly reminded that God does not want me to make merely occasional, hesitant or apologetic pleas for incrementally better lives.\u00a0 God’s will for our life is for whole lives, lived boldly, even in the face of seeming intractable brokenness.\u00a0 God incessantly invites us to be people of hope, a living hope which becomes incarnate in the world by boldly living in consonance with that hope.\u00a0 In case this bold sentiment might be doubted, my quick prayer and swift response was punctuated with the crowd of witnesses present that day boldly singing about how we will not compromise, neither our hopes nor our demands for a world full of harmony.\u00a0 God works in strange in mysterious ways.\u00a0 Sometimes not so mysterious — though perhaps somewhat strange to some.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I found myself In rare prayer A genus reserved for Mother’s ilk Only doing what Kin be done In udder neglect Of that long a go Cached in Fore more sensible weighs Now wholly saved For foxholes The mass Of … 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":[32,9,15],"tags":[642,294,330,574,538,393,481,219,428,635,65,263,117,446,431,388,404,422,408,505,359,611,486,438,509,444,658,94,110,114,254,491,601,83,531,30,376,421,487,287],"class_list":["post-1667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-about-top-pun","category-poems","category-political-and-philosophical-musings","tag-apathy","tag-awe","tag-compromise","tag-creation","tag-dream","tag-dreams","tag-environment","tag-environmental","tag-experience","tag-future","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-greed","tag-harmony","tag-heart","tag-hope","tag-hubris","tag-insecurities","tag-journey","tag-lazy","tag-life","tag-loss","tag-meaning","tag-mind","tag-mourning","tag-mystic","tag-poems","tag-poetry","tag-power","tag-powers-that-be","tag-prayer","tag-present","tag-reality","tag-religion","tag-soul","tag-spiritual","tag-tar-sands","tag-truth","tag-universe","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\nPOEM: Rare Prayer | About Top Pun, Poems, Political and Philosophical Musings | Top Pun's Poetry, Funny Puns, Free Posters, Public Health Radio Show! 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