Gospel, Chapter 13: The Man in White
If I Were: The Man in White
A manly man of dread you’d see,
My white hat white as white can be,
But evildoers best beware
Of Johnny Eastwood’s manly stare…
I’d stare into the eyes of guys
And know their souls, it’s no surprise,
Evangelizing on the side
I even speak in strange tongue-ties.
God is love but God is wrath,
And Wrath, by God, is workin’ hard,
And I’m his sword, and I’m his rod,
I love that role - no need to prod!
A silver spoon got in my mouth
But daddy yanked and pulled it out
So standin’ proud, a Texan tall,
Pulled myself up, bootstraps ‘n all,
Became a clever man of words
Of firm resolve, unflinching nerves,
So when those Saudis plane-attacked
I said we’d best take out Iraq
Just like I wanted anyway…
In this and many other ways
I oversee the rule of law,
Like Congress balking - I foresaw.
If I’d spoke to them and tried
Requesting, as the law requires,
Permission for domestic spying,
They might have gone and tried denying.
That’s why I grabbed my zecutive branch
To bushwhack ‘em, like on the ranch.
Amendment fans, just stop yer cryin’,
That first one’s dumb, and I ain’t lyin’…
I tell you that Guantanamo
Lies far outside of my control.
If you’re concerned with human rights
It’s Castro that ya need to fight.
To torture we would never sink
We outsource that, it’s wut… “distinct?”
They signed some notes that say, “We did it,”
Who cares what happens down in Egypt?
I am the axis of the good
God talks to me just like he should,
I’m just a simple Christian mogul
Whose will belongs to Exxon-Mobile.
posted by Darius @ 3:07 PM
31 Comments:
Darius,
Wow! Great one. Back with some observations...just had time to read it now.
who wrote this? Bush is not my God! I don't worship that. but this is a great way of showing what happens when you read to much into the bible and believe that God has hate or anger just like you do (bush and the bible fanatics)...and makes you feel you have the right to do as you please with God on your side!!!!there is no such thing as one right religion.
Well penned, Darius, and bang on. My question is: how did they ever elect him in the first place?
And how did they ever elect him...AGAIN?
That's quite a poem, Darius. I love the final rhyme--brilliant! Have you ever heard of Calvin Trillin, the humorist and poet? I heard him recently on NPR:
Take a listen.
He claims you can get a way with things in poetry, especially rhyming poetry, that you could never get a way with in prose. He writes political poems for The Nation, but, unfortunately, you can't read them without a subscription.
Just the titles are pretty tantalizing though.
how did they ever elect him in the first place?
And how did they ever elect him...AGAIN?
Bush got by with little help from his friends: the Supreme Court and Diebold.
It is a scary thing when religion and politics mix. And the Bush admin is an example of such a mix going terribly wrong. But on the other hand, it's probably unrealistic to restrict religion to the personal lives of indivduals, with no political/social engagement. Liberation theology is a good example of a good mix of religion and social justice/politics, I think.
There's an interview with JD Crossan here that kind of discusses this. He talks of how, in the days of early christianity, religion and politics were really one, both in the Roman empire and for christians ... that's what got Jesus killed. But since then ...
I find a Gnosticism that coalesces magnificently with American individualism - inside not outside, religion not politics, spirituality not religion - everything that makes the whole thing Gnostic and safe.
Liberation theology was not safe - it got a lot of priests and nuns killed - but if religion is going to be real and about life here and now, it has to engage all of life, even politics.
I will just express another unpopular idea, as I often do ;-) around here... One of the reasons Bush and Co. and other fundamentalist nuts of all stripes are running the world is that the silent majority of the moderates find it "inappropriate" to question religious beliefs of others. If faith is the highest virtue then no resolution to conflicts is possible. It's a "my God is bigger than your God" world...
Darius, you have completely outdone yourself!!
brilliant three thumbs up,
*best not to ask*
It is a fine line between politics and religion, also it is something we are seeing within even corporations, adopting the same methods of control that the churches have used for centuries......
We see corporations putting forward heros like The patron saint of cholesterol Ronald Mcdonald (jesus), and the we see a boogey man someone to fight who is really no match for our greased up messiah, such as the old hamburgalar (lucifer). Childish example but the message is still the same.
damn straight
word to the D to the A to the RIUS!
or
Um with yu fellers.
Just rereading about the Republicans meeting in Texas recently where they stated that America is a CHRISTIAN Nation and that the Constitution was never meant to exalt any other religions to the level of Christianity.
Oh and they would like to abolish the IRS,HUD, PBS,EPA,Endangered Species Act, National Endowment For The Arts etc....and that Jesus was the REAL Chairman of the Republican Party.
History will not be kind to this administration. It will look as ridiculous, phoney, and paranoid as McCarthy Era.
What Am I saying..those goofy buggers and their fabricated War on EVILISM it is exactly like the McCarthy Era.
What if Karl Rove and Ann Coulter start making babies?????
Juat a mention - not all religious political interaction is conservative ... liberals are also religious. An example - the upcoming immigration reform stuff in the congress ... most catholics are on the liberal side of the issue, on the side of the immigrants (link)
Regarding Aidan's comment- in Supersize Me (the movie) and in Fast Food Nation (the book), they talk about how Ronald McDonald is the most recognizable face to children, bigger than Jesus. That is MESSED UP.
TO ALL: Need to take a few or maybe several days off from blogging to attend to a few other things. I never imagined the number of angles people would see this from! Look forward to replying to you all soon -
Just a couple things to avoid any misunderstandings:
KATHY: I wrote it. (If you see anything where no credit is given, it's me...) And I definitely wasn't implying Bush is anyone's God, just pointing to the connection he's always making, in his verbiage, between his supposed humble piety and his "leadership." (I'd like to see him eat humble pie-ty, but he's really quite incapable of digesting anything, which can happen when you consider yourself already full of the right answers.)
CRYSTAL: Wasn't meaning to suggest that only the Christian right brings religion to politics. Thanks for the links. The "Crossleft" blog is another example of progressive Christians trying to associate Christianity with issues and values that anyone concerned with the general good and our long-term viability on this planet would share - poverty, social justice, health care, the environment etc.
To me it's a mystery how concern with such matters is "liberal" or "progressive" or even necessarliy "Christian." Just seems - I don't know... Moral? Sane? "Rational," if survival is a rational aim?
I can't imagine how the "leadership" of this country sleeps at night, wasting the nation's time debating "issues" like flag burning, English as the "national language," and whether to amend the constitution to include jargon enshrining bigotry directed against homosexuals. This whenever they're not on break. I've never seen their calendar, but from the news, I get the impression they're at "recess" so often that if they were kids in school, they'd never graduate.
Come to think of it, fewer of them seem to be graduating all the time. They just gerrymander their voting districts and stay in office forever.
Nicely done. :)
If you wrote that, give yourself a hug for me, because it surely is good.
Darius
I'm sorry...sometimes i don't think before i write. it was just a mindless reaction on my part. please forgive me on this one. A lot of people think Bush is great and is leading the way...in a way they worship that! thats what i meant.
so profound, so new age. Damn its happening before our eyes...sad and angry.
A new Jesus Christ Superstar may have been born...
Hi there
Hope you are going to be back soon...Wow so you wrote that poem by your own no help at all...In the mid of it I would have run wild as I loose concentration I could never write a very long poem...I will loose my direction and yes I got to try it...
ANONYMOUS: Thanks, glad you liked it.
KATHY: No problem, believe me, I understand. On any given day this administration pushes 39% of Americans into a rant, including me. (All statistics on this blog are made-up unless otherwise specified…)
WITHIN, WITHOUT: I honestly have no clue.
MARISSA: I never thought of that… I guess rap is pretty much the only place meter and rhyme is used today. That and Hallmark…
RACHEL: I liked those last two lines myself. I had the rest of it written but had no idea how to end it when they came to me in the middle of, well, dinner.
Yes, I heard Trillin on NPR too.
The fact that, like you say, he got in “with a little help from his friends” the first time, makes me an agnostic on whether or not America really did elect him the second time. Given the choice of a citizenry that wouldn’t know better than to do that or a US government that rigs vote counts – I really can’t say which one I’d “prefer” to think happened.
CRYSTAL: Was thinking a little more about your comments… It seems to me that who we are invariably translates into our words and actions, including politics. So when leaders confuse religion and ego, “righteousness” with self-righteousness, and even deliberately use God-talk to manipulate people, it has consequences.
And when people who are more enlightened than this, both inside and outside of religion, become concerned with politics, then the issues that concern them look a lot different than the administration’s agenda. Thanks for those links. Crossleft is another good progressive Christian site.
SH: You’re pointing to something that I think is a real problem – how to successfully confront the political/religious far right. Going by what I’ve seen in the blogosphere, it looks to me as though a whole lot of non-fundamentalist Christians have been giving thought to how to knock the religious football, so to speak, out of their hands. Apparently, despite their often blatant hypocricy and immorality, it’s not an easy problem to solve. The far right is well funded, well organized, marches in lockstep.
STACEY: Thanks. And you being from Texas and wearin’ a tutu. I can’t imagine what you’re up against…
AIDAN: Thanks, Aidan. I don’t know much about how corporations work, but the main method of control I happen to have noticed is how they finance political campaigns. This gives them so much influence over congress and the presidency that they pretty much write the legislation that best suits them.
HOMO ESCAPEONS: I sure hope you’re right about saying, “History will not be kind to this administration. It will look as ridiculous, phony, and paranoid as the McCarthy Era.” Because if you’re wrong, it means the ideological heirs of this administration will be writing the history…
MARISSA: And they say that young people don’t have good role models anymore…
RENEE: Appreciate it -
PO PATRICIA: Thank you, yes, I did write that.
GHOST PARTICLE: I guess "sad and angry" describes how at least half of America feels by now.
DON I: A performer for sure...
IAMNASRA: I guess there’s verse and then there’s poetry. That was verse for sure. But there’s better and verser verse, and that was maybe one of my best verses. I’m also one of those people who’s good at birthday and other greeting cards, for what it’s worth. So if I know enough personal details about someone I can usually "immortalize" them, sort of.
Great post! I loved it.
hi Darius,
this is one great poem, hm, and I thot Bush was the man of the moment.
Wow! You are amazing.
That was so great!
And, thanks so very much for stopping by my blog this morning.
Your words helped me.
Thank you!
CHRIS: Thanks, I guess a lot of us do love the guy...
CHRISTABELLE: Half the USA is in the political equivalent of major depression, and has been since his initial selection...
SAMURU999: I'm glad, and thanks for stopping by yourself -
Awesome, "The axis of good". What a great turn! But that is exactly what we think of ourselves.
The simple Christian-mogul who belobgs to Exxon-Mobil.
Prophetic, a lot like Amos,
I am totally impressed!
A poem,artistic,political,sarcastic but rightful,all in one piece!
I am hoping for a better and future world,down undern my spine!
good luck to your works,Darius!
just go and break a leg!
Kathy. 'There should be no borders in our world.' Well said x
KEVIN B: Prophesy is a lot easier nowadays though! It's like the administration is carrying a giant sign saying, "Out to Get Whatever We Can Get Away With."
GHEE: I hope so too. In particular, I keep hoping that one or another of "the younger generations" as a group in the US will get genuinely excited about something besides money. So far though, there's been no reaction against the "baby boomers" as "The Greediest Generation," if I may paraphrase Tom Brokaw as long as I'm a member myself.
Hope is important, but unless hope is translated into action, it has no practical consequences for us for life on this planet as a species. I mean, we're the species that's "inherited the earth." So unless a person belongs to a religious group that views the real-world solution to overpopulation, poverty, global warming, incessant warfare etc. as their preferred version of a Savior arriving soon to perform gigantic supernatural feats, then we really do need to develop a collective capacity to care about the longer term and the consequences of our actions/inactions on future generations.
Otherwise, future generations will have their work cut out for them (by us), that's for sure...
BENJAMIN: I think so too, even though it's truly the jingoist nightmare. But the one-world tendency to me looks inevitable. Technology has already made the world one place in many ways. At some point, I would think the nation-state will come to represent gross inefficiency, and become as outmoded as the city-state.
And I think those who confuse love of country with a chauvinistic attitude toward the rest of the planet are terribly misguided. Although the demise of the city state occured long ago, people still love their hometowns. If the nation state one day makes way for a larger world-govenment, people won't stop loving their homelands in all the ways that are truly positive.
**And I’m his sword, and I’m his rod,
love that line.
Keshi.
You did this? Brilliant!
KESHI and FLAMEON, thanks.
Oh my goodness this is damn good!
Man, you rock!
No need to respond to this, Darius. I am just catching up ... I am so darn impressed with what you are doing here ... I agree, I enjoy the comments, they are good, but what provoked them is outstanding.
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