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| The Potato Eaters, 1885, Van Gogh Museum |
One.
The cups are reproduction impressionism,
Monet, mostly, with Vincent Van Gogh thrown in.
The tea is peppermint and chamomile, perfumes
mingling with coffee, dark-roast and Java conjoined.
The conversation is of worship and service,
all as if random and not sophistication.
We drain our cups and reach for ego death in deep
silence, counting on God’s unconditional love.
Two.
Within the frame, set and purring, a bottom drops,
a flash reveals the holy temple and surprise
Sliding on light manifests fire in ice, control
cracks, mind gulps, heart re-pumps more than its mere blood
Certainty turns inside out, echoes and beckons
till we advance blinded and without our crutches
Just before grabbing the life raft again, we feel
spirit search for us, flames lifting skyward and loud.
Three.
The instant we leave we want to return to face
radical simplicity, call out God and more.
The instant we leave we rip our clothes in mourning
and frame our loss in adjectives and verbs.
In the beginning was before the word, below
and beyond it, we say, and nod, once more grounded.
But we want to be mystery's shadow puppets,
we want to leave costumes, props and poses behind.
For my prompt at Poets United, Midweek Motif ~ Design
Copyright © 2015 S.L.Chast
I find three of them to be very spiritual and uplifting beginning from ego death in silence to flames lifting skyward to leaving costumes, props and poses behind...a beautiful journey within...
ReplyDeleteThis one has me thinking.. Cup of tea in hand. I love the line.. "Frame our losses in adjectives and verbs"...
ReplyDeleteSusan I love the way you take the image write a poem then spin the image to a new vantage point. When I studied art history we always had to define one scenario - why cant there be more than one?
ReplyDeleteSuch a profound and philosophical poem - areas we are not skilled in - but your title alone made me think of the difference between drinking to quench thirst ..and drinking to find that which we are lacking and which can never probably be fulfilled until we learn how to fill our own cups
ReplyDeleteJae, I love your comment here. Learning to fill our own cup is very key!
DeleteThis is soo beautiful... especially love:
ReplyDeleteCertainty turns inside out, echoes and beckons
till we advance blinded and without our crutches
Beautifully penned.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
I like each of your designs. they are bits and pieces of different artistic references I could identify and don't. Lovely! Splendid!
ReplyDeleteThis is very deep, an appreciation of the outer design of teacups and tea, then the going within a framework designed for inner light......then back out to summarize and philosophize on the journey. Wow. So well done.
ReplyDeleteWow! This is beautifully penned. I am still in an array of thoughts after reading it.
ReplyDelete"But we want to be mystery's shadow puppets,
ReplyDeletewe want to leave costumes, props and poses behind."--- Ah, so true! The real work is having the core strength to hold the shadow! Beautiful and beautifully expressive,Susan!
That is such a wonderful first stanza... so evocative and full of smells and scents. Really brings you in to what you later talk about.
ReplyDeleteThe danger in life is believing what others tell us to think. This can apply to our conception of the world and who created it to mundane things such as what foods we should eat. What happens is that we create barriers between us and those that don't conform or in my case the other way around. Let's hope God forgives us for our foolishness. Very thought provoking piece Susan.
ReplyDeleteFor me each piece carries a contrast...that of a rigid religion and that of an organic spirituality. Thought-provoking and well-written, Susan. Thank you, for the prompt, too!
ReplyDeleteThis is a very important painting for me. I first saw it when I was very young and I found it very discomforting because of the suffering portrayed in it. Potato eaters suffer the grind of an existence with little hope of much else which Van Gogh brilliantly portrays .Indeed this is the face of radical simplicity.The face of the Christ on earth. " Whatever you do unto the least of my brethren, you do unto me."
ReplyDeleteNot sure what to say Susan. I'm mesmerized by the depth of this beautiful poem. Brought me thoughts
ReplyDeleteof times when I left my spiritual practices and then returned to be welcomed again, home, per design. I must come back to this to allow it to touch me even more.
But we want to be mystery's shadow puppets,
ReplyDeletewe want to leave costumes, props and poses behind
There is a need to leave some memories of what had transpired. One need not remain mysterious
Hank
I feel the strength of the spiritual search here. Our cups are drained and refilled again and again...
ReplyDelete'without our crutches' stands up for me. We often, if at all willing to, lean on/at something to fill our 'empty pages' while it's not necessarily to hurry up and follow in the same order/same stuff...
ReplyDeletefrom other side, 'those people' who want for us fill 'the cup' irritated by our different point of view... this separation become poignant and progressive! because it moves us forward to find the balance, to act...(remember, movement - the fight of opposites). ~ Deep psychological poem.
im not sure if this is 1, 2, 3 or I,II, III either way i prefer reading it as one poem served in phases I, II, III
ReplyDeletemuch love...