God's preacher or Devil's teacher.
With your lips you are God's preacher,
With your life the devil's teacher,
Preach one thing and do another,
Say you love and in the same breath stab another,
Saint in your speech,
Even as your spiritual life's come to a screeching halt.
In stead of merely becoming sentimental,
Become instrumental.
© 2009 Afeseh Ngwa Hilary.
RE: comment on poem ("where two worlds meet")
ReplyDeleteok, confession:
i have been reading Ted Kooser's book "Flying at Night" which showcases his excellent poetic style.
sadly, i need to stop reading his poems. that way i can safely write in my own voice. but then i guess we learn from others. and he is such a wonderful poet and teacher. i'd rather learn from him. but ehem, i am putting his book aside for a while. :)
thank you for the praise. i am not done with the poem. the ending is driving me nuts. it isn't saying what i want it to say. oh, well. sometimes, poems do have minds of their own. i can't always control mine, even tho i'd really like to.
... the surest way to stand tallest is to stand on the shoulders of the giants who have gone before us... as I learn, I try to avoid being the duplicate of another by cautiously allowing the voice of many to bond in me, ringing the truth in 'e pluribus unum - Out of many one', giving me a unique voice which is both different and stronger than any of the single voices which contributed to its birth... if you learn from one teacher only, the likelihood is he/she will drown you... learning yet staying unique can be tough... you have a key ingredient called passion and poetry is bland without it... thank God you have much of it... i think a great poet should be in a sense, eclectic... keep learning, keep writing... they are food for the muse...
ReplyDeleteI decided to read about Ted Kooser and discovered that he was born in Ames, Iowa,(where I currently go to school) in 1939, and earned a BS at Iowa State University (where I currently study) in 1962... you should share the tricks you have learned from him :-)
ReplyDeleteon another note, I am struggling with some poem too and could not help thinking you were right that some poems do have a mind of their own, stubborn and unyielding... :-)