A Supermarket in Calinfornia
allen ginsberg
What thoughts I have of you tonight, Walt Whitman, for I walked down the sidestreets under the trees with a headache self-conscious looking at the full moon. In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into the neonfruit supermarket, dreaming of your enumerations! What peaches and what penumbras! Whole families shopping at night! Aisles full of husbands! Wives in the avocados, babies in the tomatoes!--and you, García Lorca, what were you doing down by the watermelons? I saw you, Walt Whitman, childless, lonely old grubber, pokingamong the meats in the refrigerator and eyeing the grocery boys. I heard you asking questions of each: Who killed the pork chops? What price bananas? Are you my Angel? I wandered in and out of the brilliant stacks of cans following you,and followed in my imagination by the store detective. We strode down the open corridors together in our solitary fancy tasting artichokes, possessing every frozen delicacy, and never passing the cashier. Where are we going, Walt Whitman? The doors close in a hour.Which way does your beard point tonight? (I touch your book and dream of our odyssey in the supermarket andfeel absurd.) Will we walk all night through solitary streets? The trees add shadeto shade, lights out in the houses, we'll both be lonely. Will we stroll dreaming of the lost America of love past blue automo-biles in driveways, home to our silent cottage? Ah, dear father, graybeard, lonely old courage-teacher, what Americadid you have when Charon quit poling his ferry and you got out on a smoking bank and stood watching the boat disappear on the black waters ofLethe?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community
I just picked up Wenell Berry's book of essays Sex, Economy, Freedom & Community and my mind is already realing. Berry is an amazing critic and sage of American Culutre. There are so many helpful insights into our overstuffed culture and economy; he is always reminding us of the importance of simplicity. Here are some quotes:
Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions, and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do”
Novelty is a new kind of loneliness.
The most alarming sign of the state of our society now is that our leaders have the courage to sacrifice the lives of young people in war, but have not the courage to tell us that we must be less greedy and less wasteful.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
I Pledge Allegiance
The idea of pledging allegiance to the American flag in church has bothered me for a long time. This fourth of July our Church had a 4th of July service (America worship); as I'm sure many other churches did also. During "Its a Grand Ol' Flag" a lady stood up and began waving her hands with closed eyes and face lifted upwards. Something is seriously wrong. Dont get me wrong, I love my country-I have a degree in its 19th century poetry- but I will not pledge my allegiance to a political party or a country in hopes that God might look more favorably on me because of that. I worship a king, in a kingdom, not a president in a free-market capitalist democracy.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Waterdeep: this song moves me..
I love the band Waterdeep. This song has been in heavy rotation on the ipod recently. I like the image of a river; sometimes it would be nice to be carried along by the tide of a cool river. Not in the sense of giving up, but of letting go, letting something greater than you take ahold, feeling safe, yet carried and pushed. Anyone ever jumped into a cold lake on a scorching hot summer day; feels good eh?
Homebound Henry's got a tumor in his head He wakes up every morning after dreaming he was dead He used to think that life was boring, but now that's not the case He turns to his wife in the evening, he says "Honey I'm afraid I'm gonna lose this race."
Sweet River, roll all over me
Sweet River, roll all over me
Soaking wet Juliet- she lives in a well full of tears Her husband left her for some bimbo after twenty-two years Now she's got to start all over, but she's just so terrified She thinks it woulda been so much easier if he woulda just died And I'm lookin out my car window sittin' in the pouring rain Although your house is fifteen miles away, I can still feel your pain I've thought and prayed and worked it through about a hundred times or more How your soul just cries to everyone to help you get up off the floor Right now it's morning, you're probably sleepin', totally unaware of the flood of kisses you hold back by the way that you despair It ain't me I'm talking about here, or anybody else you can touch That's all I want to say right now, I don't want to say too much except
Sweet Jesus, roll all over me
Sweet Jesus, roll all over me...
You gotta come down and just set
me free
Monday, June 9, 2008
Starting Question
I read a post that made the claim that 'every world view starts with the question, 'what is wrong with the world/me, and how can I fix it?' Many people-including myself, until recently- have began here, with that exact question. It has been the grid through which I see the world and people around me. I believe this isn't the best place to start.
The question assumes that creation is 'bad'. When God created the heavens and the earth, he said it was 'good'. I believe it is still good, corruptible by humans yes, inherently 'evil', no. If I look at my world, my neighbor, my enemies and ask, 'what is wrong with them, and how can I fix them?, I will begin moralizing their life and judging them. For me, using this question as the starting point of my world view doesn't allow me to be in awe of God's goodness; it pushes my focus into how can I fix all the problems around me. Are we really responsible for having the solution to every problem? Where does our faith come in? Or is it up to us?
I think a better question to start with is ' What is God's dream for the world and how can I participate in it?' I believe God desires to heal our world, to bring people into wholeness and in harmony with him and his intentions. Starting at this question assumes that God has a plan, and it actively at work fulfilling it. Its easy to look around us and see all the many things that need to be 'fixed', but I think that God knows that, and I believe that if we are awake to God's Spirit we can be apart of the solution.
The question assumes that creation is 'bad'. When God created the heavens and the earth, he said it was 'good'. I believe it is still good, corruptible by humans yes, inherently 'evil', no. If I look at my world, my neighbor, my enemies and ask, 'what is wrong with them, and how can I fix them?, I will begin moralizing their life and judging them. For me, using this question as the starting point of my world view doesn't allow me to be in awe of God's goodness; it pushes my focus into how can I fix all the problems around me. Are we really responsible for having the solution to every problem? Where does our faith come in? Or is it up to us?
I think a better question to start with is ' What is God's dream for the world and how can I participate in it?' I believe God desires to heal our world, to bring people into wholeness and in harmony with him and his intentions. Starting at this question assumes that God has a plan, and it actively at work fulfilling it. Its easy to look around us and see all the many things that need to be 'fixed', but I think that God knows that, and I believe that if we are awake to God's Spirit we can be apart of the solution.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Quote: On Forgiveness
This quote comes from the book A Good Friend by Dr. Les and Leslie Parrott: Thoughts?
"Trigger-happy forgiveness is not forgiveness at all. Given out quickly, too liberally, forgiveness becomes watered down. The quirks and cranks of our friends’ annoying behaviors do not deserve forgiveness. Generosity? Yes. A sense of humor? Yes. Some tolerance? Yes. But not forgiveness. No. Forgiveness is reserved for a more serious mercy. Not for annoyances but for the deeper wrongs friends do us.
There’s another important point about forgiveness: When a good friend forgives another, it doesn’t guarantee reconciliation. Forgiveness requires something of the offender as well as the offended if it is to restore the relationship. My former professor Lewis Smedes is one of the nation’s leading experts on forgiveness. In his best-selling book Forgive and Forget, he said something about what it takes to be reconciled after we forgive:You hold out your hand to someone who did you wrong, and you say: 'Come on back, I want to be your friend again.” But when they take your hand and cross over the invisible wall that their wrong and your pain built between you, they need to carry something with them as the price of their ticket to your second journey together… What must they bring? They must bring truthfulness. Without truthfulness, your reunion is humbug, your coming together is false.'Forgiveness will always heal the wound in our memory, regardless of how a friend responds. But reconciliation requires that our friend own up to the truth of his or her fault and see the pain it caused. (Emphasis added.) No mask or manipulation is allowed. If you forgive a friend for breaking a confidence and your friends denies it ever happened, the relationship will remain in limbo. There’s no way around it. Reconciliation is a two-way street, requiring both grace and repentance. And good friends know it–whether they are on the giving or receiving side of forgiveness."
"Trigger-happy forgiveness is not forgiveness at all. Given out quickly, too liberally, forgiveness becomes watered down. The quirks and cranks of our friends’ annoying behaviors do not deserve forgiveness. Generosity? Yes. A sense of humor? Yes. Some tolerance? Yes. But not forgiveness. No. Forgiveness is reserved for a more serious mercy. Not for annoyances but for the deeper wrongs friends do us.
There’s another important point about forgiveness: When a good friend forgives another, it doesn’t guarantee reconciliation. Forgiveness requires something of the offender as well as the offended if it is to restore the relationship. My former professor Lewis Smedes is one of the nation’s leading experts on forgiveness. In his best-selling book Forgive and Forget, he said something about what it takes to be reconciled after we forgive:You hold out your hand to someone who did you wrong, and you say: 'Come on back, I want to be your friend again.” But when they take your hand and cross over the invisible wall that their wrong and your pain built between you, they need to carry something with them as the price of their ticket to your second journey together… What must they bring? They must bring truthfulness. Without truthfulness, your reunion is humbug, your coming together is false.'Forgiveness will always heal the wound in our memory, regardless of how a friend responds. But reconciliation requires that our friend own up to the truth of his or her fault and see the pain it caused. (Emphasis added.) No mask or manipulation is allowed. If you forgive a friend for breaking a confidence and your friends denies it ever happened, the relationship will remain in limbo. There’s no way around it. Reconciliation is a two-way street, requiring both grace and repentance. And good friends know it–whether they are on the giving or receiving side of forgiveness."
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