(from a day with Padraig O’Tuama, April 27, 2020)
Take the land. Introduce new gods. Eradicate language. Murder. Create internal tensions. Question the integrity of the culture. Deepen shame in cultural expressions. Define progress by dominant standards. Establish dependency to create benevolence. Project imagined hostility upon them.
How many eyes closed in prayer this year?
How many heads bowed over clasped hands?
How many fell to their knees, even when it hurt?
How many raised hands and tentative lifts of the arms?
How many "Give us" prayers were asked this year?
How many "Let us" prayers?
How many "Make us" prayers?
How many requests that began, "Jesus, we just"?
How many more started, "God, if you just..."?
How many turns, returns and promises lifted to the heavens?
How many beads clicked moving on to the next prayer request?
How many sorrows, sadnesses and sicknesses placed in the hands of God?
How many prayers to find a way for a blessing to be given?
How many more prayers for blessings to be received?
How many prayers were obligatory, routine and ritualed?
How many virus cells were eradicated by prayer?
How many prayers heard by prayer-voyuers?
How many prayers were surrounded by the smoke of incense?
How many daughters would still be alive if their fathers
had said their bedtime prayers?
How many prayers sung over glowing grandfathers?
How many times worse would life have been if no prayers were said?
How many years did prayer add to lives in 2020?
How many prayers cried for just one more year?
How many prayers said in unison?
How many angels carried all the prayers to heaven?
Were there enough?
Who turned the swirling brushstrokes of Van Gogh's Starry Night into pieces of a puzzle? How long did Vincent puzzle, staring at the night sky, before his first brushstroke? Did Van Gogh paint brushstrokes when clouds puzzled the moon and the stars with cover? Puzzling, why do the straight brushstrokes of the cypress not stop the winding howl of the wind? Where did the asylum staff allow Vincent to puzzle out the brushstrokes needed for the stars?
putting my glasses on this morning my vision was dotted with the salt dried from the tears i shed crying myself to sleep last night i forgot about the shaking and shivering of the body and of the rush from my eyes before i drained fell asleep i will never forget your birthday
Who decided to print the picture of the purple heron in black and white? How many word plays can be done on the words none and one? How many poems, published and unpublished, must be written before one is a poet? What difference between blessing and pure luck in surviving a deadly death?
“If people read the words of the prophets with closer attention, they would find the keys to life.” – Marc Chagall
Imagine waking to the racket of Chagall's green violinist dancing on the rooftops. What tune does a purple-coated fiddler play in the winter to wake the neighbors? Every woke fiddler is green-skinned and wears one black shoe and one white shoe. Awaken from one-footed dreams of flying in purple pajamas.
“God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly.” – Mary
Could it be? The chance once again to reject our expensive attachment to sharing pieces of pious piffle, poop and pablum? The rich and wealthy imprisoned gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh behind barcodes long, long ago. Every year's Christmas list asks for the impossible: a time where a daughter does not dwell with those who have gone before us into the wonder wonderland.
Knock. Knock. We may open wide the entrance doors of our homes, pat ourselves on the back for finally letting God gain admittance to our hearts... to our lives... God will still be born in the garage out back.
The Table of Life never stops asking for your bet. Black, red, odd, even, and lucky seven always roll. Pascal made his wager with drinking buddies at the bar while his Bible stayed at home, closed on the bedside table. If a table could talk, a table would say, "The Table God has four legs, not three." When we declare, "All are welcome at this table!" remember, the invitation is for those not in the room. Once I was told to "Lay it all out on the table." I declined. My life is more profound than any metaphor.
Don't hit the poles at the side of the road. In the middle of the road avoid potholes.
A Thread You Follow 