Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Kit Kelen - godbother #6 - I have to do these things myself


I have to do these things myself

stand up
sit down
take my pill
undo
turn inside out
tie the tongue up
wait my turn
embitter
get a grip
rise to occasion
have gander
goose
neck
take off my pants
moon
wipe
waggle
wake
and all angelic
levitate
brush pegs
and fur
let steam off
when pressed
have a scrub
chow down
lay back
get tummy rubbed
and charm myself
drift dream
wash with tide
and sink a little
bob up
keep afloat
condole
apologize
feel the hot breath
of the ancients
weigh like a nightmare
at times
face demons
mourn
and make up lies
point truth
find choir spot
restring harp
give shirt off back
cloud trousered then
be birthday boy
stand up
sit down
and eulogize
rub out the line in the sand
start again
go crazy
really mean it
there isn't time to polish shoes

give that the heart is just this once
be ten foot tall with love



I have to do these things myself
I'll tie my own shoelaces one day




(Not sure if this really works for godsbother ... to the extent that it's about free will [i.e things gods can't do for you] it might. I want this collection to have range but I also want it to have coherence. There's a danger of it all becoming too abstract or getting stuck on a narrow set of symbols. So something with a lot of diverse and quick-shifting imagery seems like a good idea, to break up the rhythm, just not sure if this is it or if I should be conjuring up a series like this, that would probably chime in at intervals, rather than bunching up as a section.)
Note that I had not at all intended to focus first on the work for godsbother, it's just what's happening.

8 comments:

  1. Good poem, Kit. How would you define 'godsbother'?

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  2. a set of observations that might bother gods

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    1. I see. Observations. Not actions.

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    2. can you suggest the kinds of actions you'd have in mind?

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    4. I believe that the gods have always walked among us and they still walk among us, so I don't know of any observations we mortals could make about anything (including them) that would bother them, who are, I think, impervious to most feelings about us except for maybe pity.

      What actions they pity the most is probably our destruction of the environment, our hubris (of course), and our increasing incapacity to love anyone but ourselves. And maybe, just maybe, our society's general disdain for the imaginal, for the Spirit, and for the various mysteries.

      All of which probably sounds quite daft.

      A godbother is generally a pejorative term, right? Someone who bothers others with their talk of the divine. So just asking, who and what are you addressing in these poems?

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  3. I’m also finding myself working on one section. I think the poem works very well for godbother (another great title) and the snappy imperatives in this make it quite different to other poems in the section so far - it works for me. I just have to say that I now have this song on running repeat in my head (it’s okay - I love Radiohead): https://youtu.be/HA_burPl6z0
    Personally, I’d remove the last 2 lines of the poem which would also strengthen the theme. I particularly like the two lines before it (penultimate stanza) and ending there would have more punch (for me at least). But if you keep the last lines, it’s not clear why they’re separated from the rest of the poem.

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  4. yes, I don't think those two stray lines are the ending... I think the ending's already there (as you observed)... but they're kind of connected ... so I wasn't quite ready to cut them loose yet... maybe a link to something somewhere else ... not sure

    somehow I'd like the whole thing to be a little wilder and more challenging, especially grammatically

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