A poem by John Goggin
Do not, I pray you
Prostrate yourself in any direction, nor
Wave your arms about and mumble, nor
Tear your hair and throw dirt upon your shoulders, nor
Stick crumpled notes into ancient crannies, nor
Sing “Hail to the Whozit, may he live evermore”, nor
Spend your time chanting sutra at the gym, nor
Fast until you’re weak and cranky and want to slap that child.
Spare me the fatted calf this time, okay?
Do naught, I pray you,
Unless you can do beneficence unto your neighbor.
Leave off lobbing shells into his compound, or
Slandering the candidate and the horse she rode in on, or
Slashing the tires of that wog down the street, or
Mixing melamine into the milk, or
Selling false securities on assurances, or
Pandering to his basest instincts.
Those things are not my line of work, nor are they to be yours.
Do naught of these, I pray you.
Do not, I pray you, mistake me.
I’ve made a mess of it, just like you; infinitely more, in fact;
So let’s not get in a pissing match about that.
Instead, why don’t you stand, like I do, naked and alone in that closet,
And smother in the icy emptiness that surrounds me?
And then, when we are both sufficiently amazed at our vast ignorance and power, and
Cloistered by the sure knowledge of our ineptitude and cleverness…
When we are muted by the dead-certain mortality that dogs our slowing steps, and
Struck blind by that inferno which is my billions and billions of hearts,
Each white-hot and craving what it knows not, …
Then, I pray you, begin you to pray, too.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Jack king // Oct 6, 2008 at 2:42 pm
A damn good poem, better than anything I’ve seen here to date.
Don’t like the ending though, since I don’t believe in prayer.
But a damn good poem nonetheless. Gotta go now and find out who John Goggin is.
2 Jack king // Oct 6, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I think John Goggin is Stan’s psudonym.
3 Stan // Oct 6, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Actually, John Goggin is quite a person in his own right, software engineer, blues guitarist and singer, and, as we see, a man of letters as well.
We have adopted each other, however–we call each other “other brother”– and we are concordant on many things intellectually and spiritually, so you’re not far wrong.
-stan
4 jgoggin // Oct 6, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Jack,
Glad you liked the poem.
You can’t really not believe in prayer. People deliver them up all the time. If you don’t pray, or don’t believe that if you did it could possibly have any effect, well… I’m with you there. Me, too. And that last “too” is the crux of the biscuit.
Not Stan, but thanks for the compliment.
5 jgoggin // Oct 6, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Excellent; “concordant”. Literally, “having the same heart”. Well chosen, other brother.
6 GeneNovo // Oct 6, 2008 at 7:46 pm
…poem with a bite that works! Powerful!
7 Jack king // Oct 7, 2008 at 9:13 am
Atheists, We
We don’t ask god to make it rain,
We don’t ask god for health,
We don’t ask god t fix the roof;
We fix the roof ourself.
We don’t ask god to keep us safe,
We put our safety first.
We buckle up and load our guns,
Stay ready for the worst.
We don’t ask god to win our wars
We’re out there on our own.
With wits and muscle on our side
We never piss and moan.
Worship is a kiss-ass thing
And we don’t kiss no butts;
We don’t beseech on bended knee
We count on brains and guts.
We’ll never ask you to blaspheme,
So don’t ask us to pray
Or praise whatever in the the sky
There’s no one listening anyway.
8 jgoggin // Oct 8, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Jack,
Well put and pithy. Good poetry.
But you mistake my intent. I wasn’t asking you or anyone else to pray. I was just saying that, if you do pray, stand naked and cold and alone when you do, and know what you’re praying to and for.
I’m too ignorant to be an atheist. I’m just disinterested enough to be an agnostic. I’m certainly anti-religion, since big-box spirituality has a bad track record. But I know plenty of people for whom faith is a good thing in their life. I don’t begrudge them that.
I have a parallel universes conceit that appeals to me. For you, there’s a god who doesn’t exist, kind of a anti-matter/matter thing. For me, well, there might be something (not someone) out there, but we’re leaving each other alone. No harm, no foul. And then, for those who choose to believe in a personal god, she’s there. The poem seeks to convey to those people that a personal god is a fallible god, and you get what you pay, or don’t pay, for.
I gotta get down to Brownsville to see my other brother and have a late night conversation with all of you. I’m sure we could solve the problem of existence, given enough time, money and tequila.
9 Jack king // Oct 10, 2008 at 8:32 am
John,
You’re a hard man to pin down on specifics, so I’m not sure how to answer your note, but I do agree with you that for many people, faith is a good thing in their lives, good for them and good for others as well. But when it comes down showing rather than telling, there’s not a rag of evidence to support the existence of a Diety. For some God is a guide or a crutch and for others a weapon, a political tool, or a source of income.
I suspect you’re being modest when you say you’re too ignorant to be an atheist, and I’ll admit up front that I’m being immodest when I say I’m not ignorant enough to be a believer.
But what the hell does that have to do with anything? You’re a good poet, so let’s see more of you’re stuff.
10 mariojmunoz // Oct 14, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Hello, guys. Excellent poem, John. Been checking out the site. Finally logged in after some problems with the password. See you at Chicho, tonight.
Mario
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