Month: July 2017

God Dead in Yemen

Rita Sommers-Flanagan2 Comments

Yemen index (2)

(Photo from Reuters News)

I had an appointment with God, set up for 9:30. She no-showed. I called to remind her, but got no answer. Three times, I called. Finally, a sleepy voice explained that  appointments with God are not a sure thing. God’s calendar isn’t set in stone. The voice suggested that I could either make another appointment, or open my eyes. Neither sounded like a good solution, so I turned on the news, sat back, and drank beer. The news was a mistake. And possibly, the beer.

In Yemen, for instance, I watched as my Big God became a little bag of bones before he died into himself. Bird legs twitching in the nurse’s arms, torso etched with ribs, beyond hunger, his eyes glazed over and he was gone. Out beyond where I can reach, he walked through the thin veil, fell, and died. I know the place where they’ve taken him. And like it or not, we will meet there someday.

The Sufi poet, Rumi, wrote, “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there. When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about. Ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn’t make any sense.”

But I’m not in a Rumi mood. I’m in a throw things kick things fuck it damn it shit storm fury at myself and all my fellow human-fucking-beings who cannot seem to get it together enough to make sure children are fed and safe. And yes, you too, you No-showing, Big-eyed God, Big hungry God, Big creator, Big sufferer, Big idea. How many miserable, awful, torturous deaths are you going to attend before you call this whole thing off?  Were you too busy dying of starvation to stop by? You in them, you in me, them in me. I, who have never known hunger, cannot look away.

God, wherever you are, I would like to remind you how insignificant and helpless I am. How sarcastic and selfish, how thwarted and inhibited. I’m tired, too. And disgusted. Thoroughly disgusted. Rich people make me sick. They make you sick too, don’t they? Well, not all of them. But why isn’t it enough that we’re trying? Can’t you help out a little? Or a little more? Flowers are nice. Food is better.

Finally, God seeps under the door. “About time,” I shout. But she’s wounded.

“Water,” she whispers. I run for a glass, and hold it to her lips. She drinks gratefully, and falls asleep in my arms. The wounds are superficial, but the blood is thick and red. She is so thin. So very, very thin.

Her eyes slip open. “We’re more alike than you think,” she says before drifting back to sleep. I want to protest, or deny it outright,  but I know she’s right. And this is not good news for either of us.

Stillwater Storm

Rita Sommers-Flanagan4 Comments

contemplation corner (2)

I’ve been transfigured by the river–my limbs and roots, light as driftwood, ideas torn asunder, mind and torso smooth as glass. The little that is left of me floats aimlessly while the storm blows me up, sky slashed open, thunder sudden and conclusive.

“I don’t live in your world anymore,” the water whispers.

I nod. “I don’t either.” But I’m reluctant to admit the obvious.

“Who are you?” the water asks. I have no answer.

There’s a small, perfect stone on the bank. I feel confident I’ll remember and come back–I’ll remember and give thanks. Little else will happen in my life but this.

Rain falls carelessly, everywhere. On the just and unjust, the living and the dead. If I wanted to hide, it would be impossible, but why would I want to hide? I am falling as carelessly as the rain, falling into sky. Land recedes below me and the tallest willows wave good-bye. Then the cottonwoods. Neither can be trusted. They’re fooling me again. I know this is the dream they wanted me to have. In this temporary life, we are destined to sleep. It’s just the way we’re made. But if the cradle didn’t fall, would we even need this endless salvation?

“Who wants to sleep?” I ask the trees.

“No one!” they say, too quickly, twisting in the wind.

“And who wants to be awake?” I ask.

“Everyone!” they say. These, too, are lies. Lies told to fools eager to believe.

The wind has died. The rain has stopped. The sky has begun to heal itself. The great arms of God surround the wounded little planet. These arms–a resting place, my ride back home. Nothing has been answered, solved, or saved. But I am cleaner, stripped to the momentary essence of myself. The day will reappear, ordinary. Beautiful. My familiar body will reassemble as I eat my fill of broken, scattered bread and drink from a shallow eddy until my thirst is quenched.

7-7-17

Rita Sommers-Flanagan3 Comments

IMG_0760 (2)

My apologies to anyone accustomed to a god-blog appearing more often. Time has slipped by, and so has God. I can’t seem to be at the right place at the right time. I know the rascal’s been coming by—calling cards are scattered outside the doors, tucked in crevices, pinned to trees. They float in the sunlight like ashes after a fire. At night, I hear footsteps. But I’m never sure. Never quick enough. So I’ve been going it alone, living on inspiration borrowed from the sunflower growing between the boulders in the front yard.

Today is 7-7-17. Maybe God is in the 7s. Or the nearly full moon. Or the succulent stalks of asparagus shooting aggressively from the bed of weeds by the new garage. Or the giant sculptures just over the hill at Tippet Rise, declaring the difficulties of creation. We know the devil’s in the details, so maybe God is in the broad strokes or the deep inscrutable waters where undiscovered creatures live with no light or air, no awareness of the shores, stratospheres, and barbeques above them. There is only the below.

Perhaps it’s better to know less—to have a tight little vision that extends barely past my skin. To think only of how to make my own atmosphere rich with reassurances and perfectly timed caresses. To scream obscenities at anything that intrudes, trying to destroy all unsuspecting protrusions of reality. Hard to say. Perhaps it’s better to believe only what fits in the quart jar where I keep my cold-brew coffee and my darkest fears–to grab whatever sleep is available, and dump dreams—even fragment of dreams–down the drain in the morning.

Perhaps.

But unlikely.

If there is a below, there’s an above. If there’s a limit, there’s a gate. Or a hole, or a tool to make one. If there’s a sunflower growing between the boulders, there’s a God scattering weeds, her fool head thrown back in laughter, fangs sharp and white. She’s to blame for driftwood and death, my finite mind, and the biochemical bleakness at 3 AM. But I still like her. I’ve made some minty water in case she stops by when I’m home. It’s been unusually hot. I imagine her drinking with relish, smacking her lips, making light banter while lifting my guilt as if it weighed nothing at all.

But for now, I’ll carry the heavy armor. I like the illusion I’m tough as nails.