God Says Yes To Me

[harborshore]

This poem--I don't believe in god, but there's something about it that just makes me feel like dancing.


God Says Yes To Me
Kaylin Haught

I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
and she said yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
and she said it sure is
I asked her if I could wear nail polish
or not wear nail polish
and she said honey
she calls me that sometimes
she said you can do just exactly
what you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don't paragraph
my letters
Sweetcakes God said
who knows where she picked that up
what I'm telling you is
Yes Yes Yes



Do you have a poem or a quote or a song that makes you happy? Feel free to post it in the comments, lovelings. ♥

Comments

enormous poetry geek, hi

[emilyenrose.livejournal.com]

Clear Night
Charles Wright

Clear night, thumb-top of a moon, a back-lit sky.
Moon-fingers lay down their same routine
On the side deck and the threshold, the white keys and the black keys.
Bird hush and bird song. A cassia flower falls.

I want to be bruised by God.
I want to be strung up in a strong light and singled out.
I want to be stretched, like music wrung from a dropped seed.
I want to be entered and picked clean.

And the wind says “What?” to me.
And the castor beans, with their little earrings of death, say “What?” to me.
And the stars start out on their cold slide through the dark.
And the gears notch and the engines wheel.

Re: enormous poetry geek, hi

[emilyenrose.livejournal.com]

And this:

Bitcherel
Eleanor Brown

You ask what I think of your new acquisition;
and since we are now to be 'friends',
I'll strive to the full to cement my position
with honesty. Dear - it depends.

It depends upon taste, which must not be disputed;
for which of us does understand
why some like their furnishings pallid and muted,
their cookery wholesome, but bland?

There isn't a law that a face should have features,
it's just that they generally do;
God couldn't give colour to all of his creatures,
and only gave wit to a few;

I'm sure she has qualities, much underrated,
that compensate amply for this,
along with a charm that is so understated
it's easy for people to miss.

And if there are some who choose clothing to flatter
what beauties they think they possess,
when what's underneath has no shape, does it matter
if there is no shape to the dress?

It's not that I think she is boring, precisely,
that isn't the word I would choose;
I know there are men who like girls who talk nicely
and always wear sensible shoes.

It's not that I think she is vapid and silly;
it's not that her voice makes me wince;
but - chilli con carne without any chilli
is only a plateful of mince...

(Poetry makes me SO HAPPY.)

Re: enormous poetry geek, hi

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Yesss. So funny and vicious, I love it. Also because, oh, hey, there are indeed funny poems of literary merit (having interned for one of the more pretentious literary magazines around, I may be a little tired of both people who don't like poetry because it's boring, and people who write poetry without wit).

Re: enormous poetry geek, hi

[emilyenrose.livejournal.com]

I bought a copy of her collection 'Maiden Speech' for a friend and was sorely tempted to keep it for myself. Being witty is ALL ABOUT using words well, and she does it brilliantly.

Re: enormous poetry geek, hi

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

Dude, from one geek to another: are there any better genres to geek out about? Every word is significant! ♥

And this is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. The second stanza in particular:

I want to be bruised by God.
I want to be strung up in a strong light and singled out.
I want to be stretched, like music wrung from a dropped seed.
I want to be entered and picked clean.

It reminds me of one of my favorite poets, Finnish-Swedish Edith Södergran. Assertive and exhilarating, if that makes sense.

Re: enormous poetry geek, hi

[emilyenrose.livejournal.com]

I don't know Edith Sodergran! Is any of her work in English? Should I look her up?

P.S. If you want awesome poetry you should look at Pomegranate. I mean, I'm biased because I've been involved with the editorial team for the last two years, but I think it's pretty awesome.

Re: enormous poetry geek, hi

[harborshore.livejournal.com]

No--she wrote primarily in Swedish, but there are a couple of poems in Russian and a fair number in German as well. The existing English translations are, hmm, some are better than others, but I've done some. So, hey, have three of her shorter poems:


God is still awake

What ails me?
– the pages go to the publisher
– everything is done.
The moon rises – my longing curls up in bed. –
Twisting in bed, my longing
laughs infernally:
God is still awake –
blissful angels, sleepless around his throne!

(1918)


Distinction

Is god a villain?

Does he cast his bravest angel from the sky?
No – I say:
He gave me honey and wormwood.
I poured the bubbling broth over earth.
The mold held.
He gave me a black-red rose –
smallest in the world.
It sets me apart from others,
visible from afar on my white robe.

(September 1918)

Scherzo

Stars above, clear and true, my heart
on earth, the clear and true.
Magnificent starry night, we are one.
Don’t I sit here, shivering on a tightrope of constellations,
as if it could snap?

Time, is that you, sleepy abyss,
yawning, mocking me?
You endanger the dancer’s feet, aching,
her climber’s arms, slackening,
recklessly taut strands of pearls.

Time – perish.
Every star, twinkling in my face: I’m you!
Every star kisses my lips: stay with me!
They circle around me, closer, closer,
my body in stardust.
What do I do in there? Do I cry?
The evening dreams. The ocean king drinks,
makes a toast from the clam.
No one may move. But the dancer rises
on her midnight toes
kneels and reaches out
kissing the fair one.

That does indeed look awesome! It will no doubt provide me with excellent distractions at work this week, which, yay. And it also makes me want to go back and look at the original poetry I wrote the fall after I got back from college. Just because I failed at editing it then and the subsequent three times that I tried doesn't mean I'll fail at editing it now, right?

Man, I love poetry, but it is a bitch sometimes.