replying on Satan's Pillar: The Wisdom of Heresy. by SupremeDreamer
1 Feb 2005, 8:39 PM
Youâve heard it said there are no atheists in foxholes. Thatâs because most people who are dying or think theyâre going to die soon pull all the comforting God-loving, God-saving reinforcements from their religions, all they can possibly muster. Thatâs why Iâm having trouble with your man who does the opposite. Not that itâs impossible. There might be a religious person somewhere, someone who has tried to follow God all his life and when he comes to the end, brings out all these counter arguments. Iâve just never seen it and think it usually goes the other way. I make the arguments in your poem sometimes, but would I make them on my deathbed â thatâs the question.
on Satan's Pillar: The Wisdom of Heresy. by SupremeDreamer
1 Feb 2005, 3:07 PM
Well, for starters, try âaskâ in the first line. Nothing like bad grammar to tick off satin.
The second verse (lines 2 & 3) doesnât hold ginger ale because when a pious person comes to death, he seldom says that, but rather glorifies God.
After that dismal beginning, it improves. The statements to the dead man are poignant, if futile, since heâs dead.
Wait a minute, heâs alive again in the âdispiritedâ verse. You must mean in the afterlife. Whatever, that aggravates your cause, donât you think? Presuming an afterlife?
So here is the pious man arguing, presumably with Peter or some such Golden Gate Keeper, justifying his righteous life. But then itâs Death that laughs, so the whole thing is getting ethereal and weird.
The argument continues, but it seems futile. The man is already dead and in no position to change anything.
Other than that, itâs a fine fight.
The second verse (lines 2 & 3) doesnât hold ginger ale because when a pious person comes to death, he seldom says that, but rather glorifies God.
After that dismal beginning, it improves. The statements to the dead man are poignant, if futile, since heâs dead.
Wait a minute, heâs alive again in the âdispiritedâ verse. You must mean in the afterlife. Whatever, that aggravates your cause, donât you think? Presuming an afterlife?
So here is the pious man arguing, presumably with Peter or some such Golden Gate Keeper, justifying his righteous life. But then itâs Death that laughs, so the whole thing is getting ethereal and weird.
The argument continues, but it seems futile. The man is already dead and in no position to change anything.
Other than that, itâs a fine fight.
replying on In Answer To Your Question by Dovina
1 Feb 2005, 11:29 AM
Thanks for so graciously clearing up the matter.
replying on Psalm of Wonder by Dovina
1 Feb 2005, 11:23 AM
Yes, for all the good it does an ant to reject the boy who destroys its nest. No, rejection is futile. Understanding is futile too, but I feel a little better about it.
replying on Depth of Illusion by Beyond_Dreams
1 Feb 2005, 7:43 AM
Because you can't follow the simple structure set up for us by nentwined, or follow the subject being discussed.
replying on In Answer To Your Question by Dovina
1 Feb 2005, 7:35 AM
Would you care to list, O knower of women's arts and crafts, the Three Principles of Embroidery and Five Pillars of Poetry? And please do it without looking anything up.
replying on Psalm of Wonder by Dovina
1 Feb 2005, 7:30 AM
Good analogy. Ants would not like such a god as this boy is.
replying on Psalm of Wonder by Dovina
1 Feb 2005, 7:29 AM
Thanks for showing that I am not the only person in the long history of mankind to think of God in this rather dismal way, certainly not a way that appeals to our usual emotions.
By the way, whereâs the 10 you promised?
By the way, whereâs the 10 you promised?
replying on Psalm of Wonder by Dovina
1 Feb 2005, 7:29 AM
It works in recognizing the existence of God, as you have said. It also points out Godâs apparent unconcern for his creations, which seem no more important to him than an ant farm as Wilco mentions below. He does not seem like the loving, caring God that so many people depend on and look to for help.
The punctuation is consistent in its own way.
The punctuation is consistent in its own way.
on Baghdad Election by Mona Lisa
31 Jan 2005, 11:31 AM
Very timely. The war is lost, yes, sadly.
replying on Depth of Illusion by Beyond_Dreams
31 Jan 2005, 11:29 AM
He means he's jealous and lonesome, like a desert rat. He wants you to humor him with objections. Really, though this is not bad, pretty nice really.
replying on In Answer To Your Question by Dovina
31 Jan 2005, 11:16 AM
My grandmother tried to teach me embroidery, but she discovered that I could not learn its intricacies, otherwise you might not be subjected to the lesser skill of my poetry.
replying on Psalm of Wonder by Dovina
31 Jan 2005, 10:38 AM
This poem does not work on an emotional level.
replying on In Answer To Your Question by Dovina
31 Jan 2005, 6:48 AM
you still don't get it. It has nothing to do with averages. The yeast is simpoly better at surviving in its environment than other kinds of living creatrues are in its environment.
replying on In Answer To Your Question by Dovina
30 Jan 2005, 4:07 PM
Most chimps are more clever than most humans. Most humans could not survive in a chimpâs environment without clothing and tools. Most men could not survive in a woman's environment with clothing or tools.
replying on In Answer To Your Question by Dovina
29 Jan 2005, 11:35 AM
Your ridiculous assertion contradicts itself in concluding that men are better than women after saying that âon average . . .â Iâll bet I am more spatially aware than most men, and can run farther and faster than you can.
replying on In Answer To Your Question by Dovina
29 Jan 2005, 11:29 AM
Perhaps I should have added that it seemed what they were promising was more than either of them could deliver should the circumstances shown in the poem come to pass â his going to the ends of the earth and doing the most despicable things, or his cruelties and abuses, or hers. I know few women who seem able to keep their promise of âFor better or worseâ if he does those things and keeps doing them. My parents made it together for 55 years until death parted them, but neither of them faced great infidelity or abuse. Their marriage and yours are love as it should be.
on Waiting for October by wilco
28 Jan 2005, 11:10 AM
A sad wait indeed. For what? Seems like it needs to say what she's waiting for.
replying on #28 by Lifeboatman
28 Jan 2005, 10:57 AM
You just called me not bright and brilliant in the same sentence. How enlightening! And you missed the _____point!
replying on In Answer To Your Question by Dovina
28 Jan 2005, 10:52 AM
Verbosity is a sin, for which, if I have committed it, I repent! But I thought that each line was expressing a different promise and considering it in the prospect of marriage. Not that Iâm getting married, but at a wedding recently, it seemed what they were promising was not what they could possibly deliver.