Fire Prayer - for Saturday Writing Essential /...

Why must we remain

in this temple of murder

where days burn and fail?

The courtyard bell sounds alarm,

every night there is slaughter.

I have become fire

bursting up from blackened bones

bright by night, my flame.

Evening winds blow from the hills

high grass curls around the shrine.

Parade of Ghosts

Comments: 30

Kushal Poddar Oct 31, 2009, 9:46pm EDT

This is surreal but the writing is search through one's inner world. Indeed reality points out the temple of murder we live in. Some enjoy all the same.

Lonely Pet Demons (Sat w E)

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 9:17am EST

Thanks so much Ku. I love your poem "Lonely Pet Demons"

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JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Oct 31, 2009, 10:10pm EDT

A very powerful write.........I think it surpasses the image, which seems of a lighter nature.

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 9:19am EST

Why thank you indeed Little Red. I've noticed that "lighter feel" of even serious monsters in Japanese art. I think they have a different connection with "cartoonish" images than we in the west do. I'm sure the monsters in this painting were meant to be both terrifying and humorous.

JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Nov 1, 2009, 9:20am EST

I think they were too. My great uncle, Bob Harvey, of Casper fame, would have appreciated this image, I'm sure.

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 9:36am EST

Harvey Comics! How cool. I'm sure he would have.

JustMe ~I'm happy to be~ Nov 1, 2009, 9:40am EST

Yes.......he was a pretty cool guy, I must say.

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Beryl Singleton Bissell Oct 31, 2009, 10:21pm EDT

The intensity in this poem plunges into a silence so great I think it could realign that picture.

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 9:50am EST

Thank you so much Beryl, Silence is the quality I had hoped to invoke.

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John Doyle Oct 31, 2009, 11:12pm EDT

It reminds me of the Upanishads

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 9:21am EST

Yes Indeed, John. I feel that too.

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JOHN BECK Nov 1, 2009, 6:40am EST

Dramatic poetry to compliment dramatic art.

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 9:21am EST

Thanks John

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Andrea Grenadier Nov 1, 2009, 7:09am EST

Excellent, Atticus! One of your lines, "I have become fire" reminds me of Vishnu's "Now, I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds." These are the lines that J. Robert Oppenheimer said he was thinking to himself when he saw the atomic bomb detonate.

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 9:27am EST

Hi Andrea, Yes! I thought exactly of that line, it is a call back to Vishnu, although I realize that if you think about it too hard, you get a hopeless little pastiche of Shinto, Zen, and Hinduism. But then if you think about it some more there is a universal resonance that Oppenheimer invoked. I better get some more coffee. - Thanks for your wonderful comment! Hope you are well today!

Andrea Grenadier Nov 1, 2009, 9:37am EST

I always remember that part in the great documentary "The Day After Trinity" by Jon Else, about Oppenheimer. It was very moving. (No pun intended!)
Raining hard this morning in Va! I need more coffee, too, because I'm trying to write, and nothing is happening!

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 9:52am EST

We are experiencing sunshine for once! Incredible unseasonable weather around here lately. It is usually dry as a bone by October. - Suggestion: Do some free-writes, as many and as often as you can until you get some good ideas. You just need to shake it up girl, it is in there!

Andrea Grenadier Nov 1, 2009, 10:17am EST

I don't know if it is! I'm more gripped by laziness than anything else!
I have started a few things, but they went nowhere. But at least I started!

Atticus *. Nov 1, 2009, 10:22am EST

Have faith......and do not worry, just write without judgement for awhile. Worry always kills my creativity, case in point: my very recent obsession with that poem I shared with you.