Category: Poem

Reduction

The sky is blue.

Grass is green.

The sun is yellow.

Fire is orange.

Blood is red.

Flowers are purple.

 

It’s so strange how

Inconcrete purple is.

It must be how it was attributed to royalty.

The other five colors are so vivid in nature.

But, purple exists somewhere else,

Except on a flower, and only some.

 

What interests me

Is how Sky and Sun

Are given “the”

As an article.

Somewhere, in elementary school

We were taught this rule

That persists till even now.

I don’t know if anyone can really

Remember exactly how they were taught it.

Some vivid construct of a classroom

Appears in my mind.

 

We were taught the colors of the rainbow;

I don’t really understand indigo.

It just looks like dark blue.

 

How obscure it gets in details

Though.

Grass is green, but turns tan in the winter.

The sky is periwinkle, but has all the colors of the rainbow when it sets.

The sun can be white when shown through clouds.

It can be red or orange, too; larger when red than yellow..

Fire builds from blue at its base to yellow at its crest.

Blood is red, but veins are blue.

But, still, purple is so much less concrete than all of this.

 

It doesn’t surprise me that languages

Have a hard time distinguishing color

From their start.

Their separation is something that gets more advanced

As the cultures grow.

Pink, Brown, White, Black, Gray, Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet, Tan, Indigo, Periwinkle, Gold, Silver, Copper, Brass,— The list goes on from there.

It amazes me how just recently we discovered all of the colors

All of them. And not all of them have a name.

But, there is still metallic colors.

There is still Mauve—the opalescent color of Blue and Violet all at once.

There is still a lot of things we do not know about color…

Yet, purple becomes more concrete as we find it.

 

Metaphors do this same thing.

Carnal Christian

If I am so called a Carnal Christian

For writing with my whole mind’s breadth of thought;—

For taking my whole blessed art to heart…

So I said “Shit”, ’twas about genocide.

Where, in my heart I had it fantasized.

Injustices done to me were so harsh

Which I had delved out equally it’s true—

If you had an imagination, prove

That you shouldn’t use it all for God too?

 

There are wars in my thoughts, battles for good

Battles with wicked themes. Please, please, spare me

To say that I not have to hold in these.

For I have seen beloveds die, it’s true.

I have seen pools of blood from friends, so too.

I’ve been horribly, horribly abused

By classmates, by peers, by the world too.

 

One thing I had my whole life, noble thoughts.

To put them onto paper, shall I not?

To appease my Christian audiences

Should I simply stop and say, “Nay, nay, nay!”

Or, put to verse the struggles of the day?

Salvation is simple; just to believe.

And each poem where evil loses, relieves.

 

Or, just to see that the thing is so bad

So that what is bouncing around in mind

Can be put to beauty or ugly fad.

For the metaphor captures it for truth

That it shows a way of life’s good or gloom.

For my mind, it has only so much room.

Dear Lee Strobel

Funny thing is

That Atheists will claim

You had not interviewed the scholars you did.

Coincidentally, they had spun a great lie

That some of these people you questioned

“Did not remember talking to you.”

 

Just between you and I,

This is how history got distorted.

Thank you for teaching me who the liars were.

That is why your book is treasured

And next to James Joyce.

American Mythology

When a youth, we’re taught a lie.

George Washington’s only was cutting down a tree.

We’re told a lie, that Lincoln was honest

And walked five miles to give back a hey-penny.

 

We’re taught the three primary colors

Which we can smear, and make red, green, blue,

Orange, purple and yellow.

We’re taught that Columbus discovered our lands

That he sailed, and tried to prove the world was round.

 

When grown men we’re taught it’s not true.

Washington lied, and so have you.

Columbus was a fool, who murdered men;

The Fourth of July the Civil War did not end.

 

My friends, on July 3rd, the rebels were beaten.

My friends, on July 4th, Gettysburg was won.

Gettysburg, which would win the slaves their freedom.

 

It is a myth, and like all good ones

Are to teach us that lies are bad when done.

But, if a child were to know the truth

Knowing Columbus was a murderer

The child would grow a fool.

For to be curious is the great truth

That Columbus is to be lauded in our youth.

As a grown man, we are to see

Him with skeptic’s eyes, and not be like he.

Thomas Edison tried and tried

To invent the light-bulb

This is not a lie.

But Nikola Tesla

We learn when old

Was a better man

Who more can be told.

 

Growing up, an education’s job

Is to teach us the basics

But then reveal the shod.

That these men in history were not perfect men.

No, they were not, but were often wicked gents.

For an education is not to rebel

Against the foundations of those truths we could tell.

Washington did, in fact, say he would not be king.

Franklin did in fact discover electricity.

 

However, these figures are not our religion

They are rather a part of our strong education.

To be taught these little, mythological truths

Give men an example with which to prove

Themselves better than our past’s evil deeds.

For when our heroes are broken

You can say, “Now, be better than he.”

 

Yet, one last thing I do here say:

The fourth of July is our nation’s sacred holiday.

The slaves were given their right to be free.

The colonists as well, were freed from tyranny.

An exact date, it does not matter at all.

But, let one more myth be the Gettysburg address

Was not said in the fall.

 

Let it not be to torment men

That when they do not know this

They are a wicked gent.

But rather, with serenity

Give them the truth, and say

“But the things you learned were rightly

“Told to you to make you good.

“They were honest fables

“To tell how you should

“Live your life.

“For when taught the truth

“At that young age

“You’re taught about war’s violent rage.

“Gore, and guts, and violent things,

“These kinds of tales will cause bad dreams.

“No, as the child grows, weaned off the milk

“He learns, also, that David the King did have a man killed.

“Such is the way of our heroic men.

“Great men we emulate what made them great men.

“What was ill and broke in their often troublesome lives

“These to children, we will surely hide.

“And then, when mature, they can learn the truth

“That yes they were broken, but so are you.

“This way you can feel a part of this way

“That great men had often lost their ways

“But so have you, and these men have fame.

“That a good man is not perfect,

“A friend I hope will learn that one day.”

We Are Free

Fife and drum sweep o’er the hills

Thunderous cracks from without the pills.

Troops arrayed in battle’s might

Take back the creek throughin the night.

Great smoke lays o’er the valleys shed

With the blood of the revolution bled.

 

Great thunderous crowds from the east

Lay their bulwarks about the creek.

Britain comes in strong man o’ wars

With troops and muskets from another shore.

The battle arrayed to free our guns

The righteous lot of those revolution’s sons;

With ten thousand marching to Washington’s songs

The Prussian General making us strong.

 

Forget not the revolution’s proud mysterious fire

Which laid the bodies of man and sire.

 

Repeaters on the chiefest hills

Longstreet’s guns were good to kill.

Picket’s charge, o’ laid to waste

The Rebel South and their great haste.

Across the valley they ran and charged

Believing the guns were waxen charge;

Yet they were instead a cartridge load

Which fired seven shots for each rebel’s load.

 

Down the grey coats fell in blood

For Picket’s mismatch with the Yankees’ Guns.

Slavery was ended on that good day

And on the fourth Lincoln had his say.

Just like on the fourth our nation sealed

To free mankind, and slavery killed.

 

Right had won both illustrious wars

Good men died, and their blood had poured.

For righteous were the chiefest sons

Who fought off the British and Rebel Guns.

 

“This Generation Seeks Me With Their Lips”

“This generation seeks me with their lips

“But not with their hearts.

“They change the prophet’s words in order to confound him

“And say, ‘he will neither notice, nor take care.’

“Who, I ask you, Who brings the sun through its course?

“Who waters the lilies, and causes the wetlands to dry up?

“Who causes the rains to fall in one place

“Upon the forests, and yet they do not bear their leafs?

“I, the LORD your God.”

I heard this and sat in wonder,

Seeing the almighty acts of the LORD

Who to this day was good to me

And has not filled my heart with sorrows.

The nations bray and burst into laughter

When they hear the awesome wonder of our God.

But, I say, it is they who are deceived.

Does not rain fall in one place

And not another?

Does not the warmth shine in one place

And not another?

Is there not cold in places where it is warm,

And warmth where it should be cold?

Do the nations truly deceive themselves

To consider that they truly understand this?

For it is the wrath of the LORD,

And no thing else

That causes my lands to dry up.

I watch, and am sore vexed

As pools of water fill the gullies

But where are the budding flowers?

Are they not in Shevat?

Why then do the nations say,

“Aha! Our idols have told us so!

“We are sore vexed, let us fix it by making the nations even more poor!”

Yet it is because of your idolatry,

And nothing else.

For your dishonoring the Sabbaths

And violating the workers’ rights.

For, one man is deathly ill

And you provoke him to come in and do his task.

Another is healthy, but he does not come into work.

One man says, “I wish to have off on the Sabbath.”

And the nation laughs him to scorn.

On your holidays, yes, even these,

All men go about their business

Buying and selling, and having no rest.

Therefore the land has no rest,

And it mourns.

 

Do the flowers bloom in Shevat?

Do they not sleep?

Do the little animals frolic in the winter?

Why then, do you wander to and fro

Looking for you food, and do not take wonder

At the strange thing the LORD has done?

For you wish to place Baal at every street corner.

Must I be like a diviner

And tell you what is not true?

Tell you strange enchantments to get you to listen?

Must I talk to the flowers

And pretend like they listen?

No, for the LORD has told me.

He is sore wroth at this generation

Who has not the rest of the LORD.

To and fro they go,

Therefore, the forests are become a desert.

And the deserts a forest.

The peoples who have not known His name

Shall know it, and the peoples who honor Him

With their lips shall stop taking the name of the LORD on them.

For they are deceitful.

Do not the nations know that the LORD is God?

Yes, they do know, but they stiffen their necks.

Who is it, I ask you, that brings the rains?

Who brings the circle of the earth to bear

And brings light in due season

And shuts up the light in due season?

Is it not the LORD Who created man and the earth?

Why then are you so mad?

Why do you drive your wagons to and fro

Going place to place

Roaring like a lion fed in the wildernesses?

 

This people dishonors their God

And they take the name of the LORD falsely

Upon their lips.

This prophet shall be at rest.

He shall eat, shall he not?

And even if it is not so,

He shall rest, knowing the wrath of the LORD

Is upon this nation, and he will sleep

And know that the LORD is God.

The evidence is all around you

Why do you not look?

Did you seek God?

Is this why you said, “I cannot see Him.”

Is this why you offer incense to that shameful thing Baal?

“Come together, and let us reason,

“Though you sins were red as scarlet

“Yet will I make them white as snow.”

Yet, men said to themselves,

“My sins are not scarlet

“They are mine, and mine to bear.”

Therefore, you must bear them

Shameful nation of the Philistines.

Had not the LORD spoken

Yet the prophet sealed the vision?

It was sealed for your hardheartedness

Yet none speak the Words of the LORD

Which are loving-kindness to the generations that seek Him. Selah.

 

Therefore, repent, and throw from yourselves the idols you carry.

Throw them into the waters,

Like the priests of Rome.

For even they, whom the whole world scorns

Know the LORD is awesome and mighty.

They fear Him, whom Israel says, “These are sinners worse than us.”

Are they Israel? Is not Judah suffering from an unrighteous king

And yet the priests perform the rituals, and they throw away the abominations?

They live poor, and they minister like workers to cleans the sinners?

What does Israel do, but call the police on the innocent man for a word?

What does Israel do, but band together and stiffen their necks against the prophets?

Yet, I say to you, greater woes come if there is no rest.

This prophet will return to his LORD with an ill report about this generation

Who had not liberated him,

But rather loved to have him poor.

“How have we not liberated him?”

By words accountable, you had not laid accusations

Against the government that did this.

Which professes “Freedom” when there is none.

For this, you band together with arms

Which is just what Satan wanted!

No, I say, repent, in dust and ashes.

You grow worse with every folly

And you grow more cold with every sin.

Rather, a man’s work is to be eaten from

And where is this prophet’s work?

It is spoiled by Jackals

And you all know just who they are.

Yet you say, “Let us fight!”

No… For then you will lose.

The Assyrian will be broken by the sword

And by the exorcise of laws.

Yet, my people would not have it.

Therefore, this prophet will rest.

What will you do?

Continue to go to and fro

Eating and drinking,

Marrying wives and blessing children.

Mixed wine is in your cups.

Therefore, the nations who have not known the LORD

They shall seek Him and they shall find Him.

Woe to the generation who rejected the LORD their God

Mighty to save and compassionate to a thousand generations.

 

Was not my command to you that you be charitable?

Yet, you say, “Charity is weak.”

Is charity weak? Is it an abomination

To give to those less fortunate than you?

Must you, in your vanities

Perform the service of healing,

Yet heal it superficially?

The daughter was violated

Yet you say to her, “Be still, for it is of none affect.”

The man was falsely accused,

Yet you say to him, “It will be alright. Be at peace.”

Yet, with what little abundance they had

They gave to the poor, therefore they will be at rest.

What of you, nation of hypocrites?

Your offerings were to the priests

But what of the poor?

The poor you cast off your stoops.

The poor you called “Degenerate”

“Liar”

And “Lazy.”

Must I prophesy to you?

Is Esdras in your holy scripture?

Is there not prophecy in it?

Is there not prophecies all around you

To testify the power of the LORD Almighty God?

Does not God show Himself through these things?

How you judge a prophet for a little error of wording

Yet you, by your great abundant hypocrisies

Speak foolishness to thousands?

You tell them, “God loves the powerful one.”

You tell them, “God is with the one whose arm has brought him all things.”

Yet, to the poor digging through your  garbage you say,

“Get away! Even our garbage is too sacred for you beggars.”

When will this generation learn?

Did not the prophet set examples for you?

When to follow laws,

And when not to?

When to give, and what to give

And how did he give of his sustenance what he could afford?

You call him lazy, yet he works every day

Silently finding the truth, seeking his God

Finding wisdom, and telling it to you?

If he has one  fault

And LORD knows what it is,

What faults do you have?

If he has spoken falsehood

It shall fall upon his head,

Yet why do you listen to him

Secretly in his bedchambers?

Is this the light of God?

To spy upon the innocent

And lay to bear his every word

Like you yourselves were God?

Hypocrites!

For the nations are filled with wrath

And the poor man is still not fed.

 

Was there not one commandment given to you

Above the rest? Who clothed Christ? Who fed Christ?

Who visited Christ in Prison? Who healed Christ when he was sick?

Who had comforting words for Christ? Was it any of you?

Yet you call yourselves greater than this man who speaks to you,

Who did all these things.

You call him a liar for speaking words in utterance hastily.

While you bring it to pass.

Hypocrites. Idolaters. Thieves. Jackals. Serpents.

These words mean nothing to you

Therefore, a new generation will serve the Almighty

And you will altogether go to the pits.

Debating an Athetriangleist

Me: “A triangle has three sides.”

Atheist: “But I don’t believe in triangles. How do you know they have three sides?”

Me: “Because when you draw a shape with three sides, it is a triangle.”

A: “How can you know that it has three sides?”

Me: “Because it does.”

A: “Well, I want proof that a triangle has three sides.”

Me: “Well, there is this philosopher named Euclid, who discovered the principle of what’s possible in geometry. And the first principles were triangles, which have three sides.”

A: “Philosophy isn’t scientific.”

Me: “Yes. Yes it is.”

A: “Well, how can you prove that a triangle has three sides? What if it had four?”

Me: “Then it’d be a square.”

A: “You’re a square.”

Me: “Can we please keep to the topic? If it has three sides, it is a triangle.”

A: “Well, I’ve heard of a shape like that, but it cannot be determined how many sides a triangle has.”

Me: “Yes. A triangle has three sides.”

A: “You say that, but can you offer proof?”

Me: “No. I cannot offer proof that a triangle has three sides. You just have to know that.”

A: “Well, then a Triangle doesn’t exist.”

Me: “I’ll draw one for you.”

A: “Sure.”

I proceed to draw a triangle.

A: “That doesn’t prove that a triangle exists.”

Me: “If it doesn’t prove that a triangle exists, then I’m afraid it cannot be proven. It just has to be accepted on faith that it is a triangle.”

A: “See, I can only believe in what I see.”

Me: “Well, you can see this shape. It is called a triangle.”

A: “But that’s not proof enough. I need more proof that triangles have three sides.”

Me: “You can count them.”

A: “No… I want you to prove that a triangle has three sides.”

 

Substitute God with “A Triangle” and “Three Sides” with Morality.

Use your imagination to make the actual debate.

Because if you can’t, I don’t believe you.

 

This is how atheists sound when they argue about God’s existence.

I Know What a Fallacy Is

I know what a fallacy is.

Do you know what a fact is?

 

In logic, there’d be an infinite regress of deductions

Without evidence.

 

On this evidence I base my belief in God.

Morals. Because men can’t create them.

Language. Because two people do find truth without knowing each other.

Miracles. Because impossible things do happen.

Evil. Because it exists. You don’t get to determine what it is or isn’t.

Good. Because it exists. You also don’t get to determine what it is or isn’t.

Pleasure. Because it exists. But it is the root of all evil, and how you obtain it is paramount to who you are as a human being.

Judgment. There must be something that holds bad people accountable, and rewards good people.

Chance. Evil people can live their whole lives, and be happy. Good people can live their whole lives, and be miserable. Often this is the case. Someone must hold them accountable.

Nature. Orion has a sling. Cassiopeia looks like a virgin. The Summer Triangle has a cross, an arrow that points to that cross, and an old man pointing to the arrow. Birds fly. Fish breath under water. Animals can look exactly like a leaf—if you think natural selection can do that, you’re crazy.

Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Gentleness, Self Control, Faithfulness, Goodness: This is good.

What harms someone cannot be determined by you, because often you hurt people without even realizing it.

 

It’s obvious to me that this all proves God’s existence. Where is it, now that the culture does not believe in Him?

 

There are no morals. Moral relativism.

Language is incomprehensible. Because you’re a fool.

Miracles don’t exist. Because you’re blind.

Evil is relative.

So is Good.

Pleasure is all that matters in life.

There is no judgment.

Chance determined everything. So what prevents you from being evil?

Nature will be gone some day, so you’ll never see it as a proof.

Love, Joy and Peace are just chemicals. Kindness is weakness. Gentleness is weakness. Self Control is arrogant. Faithfulness is imprudent. Goodness doesn’t exist.

Harm… There are a lot of things that you say, “Won’t hurt anyone.” They do.

 

I’ve tasted your values. It’s disgusting.