Farther away — much farther,
high as a predator drone above the caution tape,
distant as a satellite from the chalk outline on the street,
safe from the suck of the swamp,
its cottonmouths & mosquitoes,
free from the burden of earth
& the deadly irredeemable stones,
beyond the sting of conscience
& the discomfort of moral ambiguity,
rapture me in the always-now of amnesia,
in the never-enough of consumption, rupture me,
oh god oh god oh god oh god oh god.
OTHER POSTS IN THE SERIES
- Psalm for the Rapture
- Psalm
- Psalm 2.0
- Psalm 2.0: the movie
- Mothers’ Day Psalm
- Psalm Ending with a Howl
Oh my, so many layers of meaning, so despairing and powerful.
I love the photo of stone steps, Dave, but they look scary to walk on, as if they could all tumble down while walking on them – a shaky stairway to heaven?
Thanks. Nope, they’re very steady. All one thousand of them!
I was listening to a song earlier today that uses religious imagery to express sexual experience. The song may be influencing my view of your last photograph. Or it may be your fault.
Peter – Obviously, I don’t shy away from mixing sexual and religious metaphors. I find the mutual interpenetration of the two realms of experience fairly unproblematic; it’s the way both tend to get distorted by self-centredness and greed that ought to concern us, I believe.
Oh, Dave. This is beyond amazing. Three thousand miles away, I catch my breath.
I’m glad you liked it, Siona. Thanks for stopping by. It’s always an honor.
Dave, I think your response to my comment is right on. I might add prudishness to the things that may distort both our sexual and religious lives, but I guess prudishness is based in self-centeredness.
Maybe so, but it’s different enough that it wouldn’t have hurt to include that, too. (Come to think of it, I am myself somewhat prudish about prayer as well as sex.) I like any formulation that suggests that body and spirit are coterminous.
decidedly arborerotic