The Ossified Man Practices Chanting
Lately, YouTube videos about early monasticism
and comic book movies.
We need a new Constitution.
It’s said that the original ascetics
wrestled with the divine, half-starving
in the desert.
Marvel and DC also tell stories about
saviors. Funny enough, that hasn’t
changed for the most part.
changed for the most part.
What makes anything anything?
This isn’t a poem
as much as it is a series
of status updates to the universe.
I’m struggling with what exactly
the universe says back. But I’m listening.
9 thoughts on "The Ossified Man Practices Chanting"
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WOW.
Love this content big-big time! Pop culture meets more ancient spiritual practices. <3
What a fun and rich wheelhouse.
Such crisp writing, too. It simply gets more stunning as we go! Thank you.
(Oh, I am a tea leaf reader and I once read for a mother, then a daughter several years ago. The tea had rose petals in it and, very clearly, the mother had a superhero in the bottom of her cup. A red rose petal formed the cape! — I wish I had got a picture. — Firm believer in pop culture and comics and their relevancy in all areas of life.)
What drew you to monastic YouTube videos? I was advised by a tarot reader to align myself with the Tao Te Ching and things like Abraham Hicks and it has been a wonderful journey since late January! Keeps me afloat/calm/hopeful …
The title pulls everything together well.
“This isn’t a poem
as much as it is a series
of status updates to the universe.”
Love that stanza
Thank you for your kind words and your story, Tabitha! I believe in relevance and the collective unconscious to some extent.
I’ve been on this history lecture bent since quarentine, and yesterday I wanted to know more about the Buddhist priests who mummified themselves, which led me to other ascetical practices and early monasticism. Also, I finally caught up with the Avengers.
I was thinking about how these things were a part of the makeup of our culture and where I was at a particular moment in finding some meaning in my consumption (if that makes sense).
Thanks, Dr. Bedetti and Joseph!
Poetry done well should make us react. Your line we need a new constitution makes me want to run away. We are doing so poorly with the old one, I shudder to think what transgressions we might invent with a new one.
K. Bruce Florence: That’s a fair response! I was thinking about something along the lines of needing something foundationally different, and wasn’t exactly thinking about the negatives that could bring with it, too
love status updates from the universe
I’m listening
Me too
The whole idea of status updates to and from the Universe is intriguing. Some days I feel like posting “to everyone I know.” Not sure what I’d say, but I feel that need. And, like you, I’m listening.