]]> http://spazzle.net/archives/2010/10/lack-of-love-poe/feed/ 0 http://spazzle.net/archives/2010/10/at-the-corner-store/ http://spazzle.net/archives/2010/10/at-the-corner-store/#comments Mon, 11 Oct 2010 02:16:27 +0000 Katie http://spazzle.net/?p=1576 My Religious Quest professor read this beautiful poem for us in class the other day, and I just thought I’d share it with all of y’all.  Enjoy!

At the Corner Store
He was a new old man behind the counter,
Skinny and eager.
He greeted me like a long-lost daughter,
As if we both came from the same world,
Someplace warmer and more gracious than this cold city.
I was thirsty and alone.  Sick at heart, grief-soiled,
And his face lit up as if I were his prodigal daughter
Returning,
Coming back to the freezer bins in front of the register
Which were still and always filled
With the same old Cable Car ice cream sandwiches and cheap frozen greens.
Back to the knobs of beef and packages of hotdogs,
These familiar shelves strung with potato chips and corn chips,
Stacked – up beer boxes and immortal Jim Beam.
I lumbered to the case and bought my precious bottled water
And he returned my change, beaming
As if I were the bright new buds on the just-bursting-open cherry trees,
As if I were everything beautiful struggling to grow,
And he was blessing me as he handed me my dime
Over the counter and the plastic tub of red licorice whips.
This old man who didn’t speak English
Beamed out love to me in the iron week after my mother’s death
So that when I emerged from his store
My whole cock-eyed life  -
What a beautiful failure –
Glowed gold like a sunset after rain.
Frustrated city dogs were yelping in their yards,
Mad with passion behind their chain-link fences,
And in the driveway of a peeling-paint house
A woman and a girl danced to contagious reggae.
Praise Allah!  Jah!  The Buddha!  Kwan Yin,
Jesus, Mary, and even jealous old Jehovah!
For eyes, hands,
Of the divine, everywhere.
- Alison Luterman

To use the same metaphor we discussed in my Religious Quest class, each individual possesses a little straw and uses it to look up at the sky.  He sees the sky from his own narrow perspective, not acknowledging the vantage points of others because he is too focused on his own straw and what he can see through it.  Imagine how much more he would see if he were to lay down his straw in an effort to better comprehend the world around him.  No longer would his view be narrow, but instead would be fuller, more complete.  He would have a better understanding of the world and the perspectives of his family, friends and enemies.

This idea of opening oneself up to other beliefs is a recurring theme this year in all of my classes.  Today in my Ethics, Religion & International Politics class, we discussed cosmopolitanism and the necessity of constantly being in conversation with others in order to better understand them and where they are coming from.

My professor directed our attention to the following quote by Robert Burton:

All Faith is false, all Faith is true:

Truth is the shattered mirror strown

In myriad bits; while each believes

His little bit the whole to own.

How true this quote is!  Much like the straw metaphor, we all grip our own little shards so tightly that we often fail to remember that it is part of a larger mirror, fail to see the bigger picture.

I think most of the problems in our world today stem from a lack of conversation, and therefore a lack understanding.  So, my dear friends (what am I, 90?) converse and learn!

The Unfading Beauty
He that loves a rosy cheek,
Or a coral lip admires,
Or from star-like eyes doth seek
Fuel to maintain his fires:
As old Time makes these decay,
So his flames must waste away.

But a smooth and steadfast mind,
Gentle thoughts and calm desires,
Hearts with equal love combined,
Kindle never-dying fires.
Where these are not, I despise
Lovely cheeks or lips or eyes.

-Thomas Carew

Anyhow, now that I’ve started to ramble on about lists, I forget what I was actually going to make a list about.  Oops.

I did, however, find a beautiful poem about love on Jason Mraz’s blog, so I’ll repost it here.

Love said…

i was dead
i came alive
i was tears
i became laughter

all because of love
when it arrived
my temporal life
from then on
changed to eternal

love said to me
you are not
crazy enough
you don’t
fit this house

i went and
became crazy
crazy enough
to be in chains

love said
you are not
intoxicated enough
you don’t
fit the group

i went and
got drunk
drunk enough
to overflow
with light-headedness

love said
you are still
too clever
filled with
imagination and skepticism

i went and
became gullible
and in fright
pulled away
from it all

love said
you are a candle
attracting everyone
gathering every
one
around you

i am no more
a candle spreading light
i gather no more crowds
and like smoke
i am all scattered now

love said
you are a teacher
you are a head
and for everyone
you are a leader

i am no more
not a teacher
not a leader
just a servant
to your wishes

love said
you already have
your own wings
i will not give you
more feathers

and then my heart
pulled itself apart
and filled to the brim
with a new light
overflowed with fresh life

now even the heavens
are thankful that
because of love
i have become
the giver of light

Rumi, Fountain of Fire
Translated by Nader Khalili