***
The Greeks had it Wrong, About the Gods
What’s not in time
cannot imagine what it’s like to suffer
loss, and cannot measure the slowly eroding
cell, and as such, wouldn’t be like us—
The infinite wouldn’t be like anything
we could envision. An indescribable god, a god outside
of limits, yes, the Hebrews were wiser.
Smart enough to say
nothing, they couldn’t even name him. Look, the wind
hits the bushes and we attribute it to a predator
because there is no survival cost in false alarms.
So, too, do we give the gods agency of change.
Let them be not there—most accurate.
Accept this, though: the world is a better place
because we die.
To experience grief, loss, struggles, failures,
and to overcome them, once in a while, if we are lucky,
and to know by nature the world is zero
sum, that is not all, but part of being human:
“When we are tempted, as many of us are
at times, to wish that our own lives could go on forever,
often what we are wishing is that some version of our lives
we are now leading could continue without end.”
A version of our lives where we die.
This according to Scheffler, not my words, but copied
here, and passed on, hopefully without error—
It is its own sort of life. Watch it multiply in you.
***
5 may 2015
And then there are days
when a woman drives down
from Mississippi to give
you a handjob
& she leaves right after. No
fuss. Ok. O
K. And then there are
days when the afternoon
showers are over
but clouds still filter
the sun. The wind’s
an unsweaty sheet. She pulls out
of the parkinglot, doesn’t
look back. Ok. O
K. You can watch the game.
And then there are days
when you don’t have
to ride the bus,
the store is across the street,
you buy a three dollar
bottle of wine, pork strips,
Tony’s marinade, & High
Life Light
for later. Ok. So she left
early. You can watch
the game. You pour a glass
of wine for yourself.
You are here now.
The glass gleams.
The wine drips
down the stem.
This is
what
it’s
like.
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