I read some lines from Les Murray’s poem ‘Poetry and Religion‘ somewhere recently, and they became an ear worm. It’s a wonderful poem, and very challenging to readers like me who have no sense of the religious.
Sonnet #13: Not exactly Ars Poetica
Every poem’s a small religion
said Les Murray. P’raps that’s true
of his. Mine’s more a kerbside pigeon
[I’ve found a rhyme – now from the slew
of possibilities find reason]:
puffed up in the mating season
it coos alliteration, rakes
the ground with fanned iambics, makes
a strut around its object. Full
religion, Les says, is the large
poem. Buddha, Jesus, Thor,
the Prophet, Moses: metaphor.
Oh Dawkins! If no god’s in charge
poems like pigeons when they fly
in large flocks can blot out the sky.
Added later: Close readers will notice that this one has 15 lines. All I can say by way of explanation is ‘Oops!’
And later again: perhaps the last six lines should have gone:
Full
religion, Les says, is the large
poem. If no god’s in charge
can poetry be meaningful?
Shall poems like pigeons when they fly
in large flocks obfuscate the sky?
<>
Hmm. Sometimes I think you’re not taking this seriously enough, Jonathon.
LikeLike
McCardey: Sprung! But it is fun.
LikeLike
Good words, love the amendments, love the pigeon metaphor. You certainly don’t need God or god to have meaningful poetry.
LikeLike
Hi Carolyn. Thanks for commenting. I just reread the sonnet and though I can see why I wanted the Thor-metaphor couplet, the amended version works a lot better, I think. I can’t keep up your pace of a poem a day, but it’s interesting what a quota like that does, isn’t it?
LikeLike