A Rationale

I really liked it. Can I assume Jesus as the fish, popular symbolism, and man/devil the destroyer for trying to play god? Very biblical, the fall from Eden in metaphor, combined with a political statement, as I see it. Whether or not I'm right, it's still a great piece.

That is pretty amazing, Cav, I must admit. You got the basic thesis...

I forgot to mention humankind's basic instinct to enslave ourselves on many different levels.

That might be totally off-base, but it's a thought I've been tossing around for some time.

No, not off base. Mankind's innate propensity to harm, even under the guise of righteousness. Not bad, fellow poet!

Marking for now, because all I saw were the words.

Kelly and Cav. I totally missed the allusions to the Bible. I got caught up in the words, as I often do. "....because we long to starve...."

Not certain what that references, but it must be something like lambs to the slaughter. Suffice it to say that I adored the holistic reading of "Rationale".

Letty, it is all metaphorical in nature. Not the simplest of pieces, which is why I was surprised that Cav unravelled it so fast.

C'mon, dear Letty - take a stab! Or I'll write another one JUST like it... :-)

Damn, Kelly. I got to go back to your original. For some reason, I can't access it from here. Hold on a sec.

why can't I locate the original poem? Sheeeeeeze. I just don't get it! Am I doing something wrong? I keep scrolling within the scroll. This time I'll go back and cut and paste...grrrrrrr.

Okay, Now I can take it all together and piece by piece

Higher, higher, soar we beyond the stormy clouds, war fronts,
Still low, low enough, looking down we can see this to infinity -
It is a perspective oh my God would deem a perch,
To lurk and wait in contemplation, anticipating a
Fluidity of consciousness, lurching freshness of lightning's
Ozone fervor, that bitter taste of sterility.

Pure as Aztec gold - stolen from the ocean,
These precious pearls of innocence, awaiting harvest.
Was it not the devil who offered refuge on a calamitous sea?
That firm, strong hand reaching down, reaching out to you - to me?
Despair, that friend, insidious despair, a fruit - that sweetest apple -

Because we long to starve.

Kelly, first the hashed metaphor of "...higher and higher/low enough to see.....that idea is fantastic.

I love the insertion of "...oh my God" within the line.

"...lurching freshness of ozone....bitter taste of sterility..." More hashed metaphor.

Kelly, here's the problem with my explication. Cav has sorta colored my thinking, and I can't seem to get my mind around the detour.

May I just say that your mystic handling of the imagery linked to your title of "Rationale"..must mean the excuses that we give ourselves in order to plod wearily along between heaven and hell without recognizing that the idols of Aztec gold, are really made of brass.

Hey, my friend. Sorry if I couldn't see through the forest of your fertile mind.

Thanks Letty! Fertile like a dried-up river sometimes :-)