image borrowed from bing
Conundrum Squared
“And the first rude sketch that the world had seen was joy
to his mighty heart, until the Devil whispered behind the leaves,
“It’s pretty, but is it Art?”.” ---Rudyard Kipling
1.
Again, again, Islamic extremism rears its ugly head,
as immigrant converts murder & maim innocent people;
Infidelism now is the jihadist slur America suffers.
2.
Christianity has been misused by zealots throughout history,
yet today too many view Islam as a religious cancer,
and mosques as breeding grounds for extremism & terror.
3.
Yet much of the world remains tranquil ensconced within
Buddhism, Bahai, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, & Taoism.
Even the plethora of pagans prefer peace over chaos.
4.
Does God, in his many guises, smile at our fervent posturing?
All inflexible worshippers seem to be lost in their stoicism,
and doves cannot fly in a vacuum of grief and misguided gall.
Glenn Buttkus
April 2013
Posted over on dVerse Poets FFA
Would you like the author to read these Sijo poems to you?
it's sickening sometimes how we tend to put people into different drawers and mark them good or bad just by their nationality...ugh...makes me angry..i wish we would learn to love more and blame less... kudos glenn
ReplyDeleteLots to think about here, Glenn...#4 is so powerful. Great job with the Sijo form.
ReplyDeleteLove the title and the Kipling quote - these are four thought provoking poems and the final line in #4 - just beautiful. K
ReplyDeleteAll so complicated. Wonderful that you could work the form so fluidly. k.
ReplyDeleteI want to comment, but dont want t be drawn into a debate of religious or political ethics.
ReplyDeleteSuffice to say, all 4 are hard hitting and very thought provoking. I had better leave it at that ;-)
smiles...it is intersting to think on how god feels in the wake of killing in his/her name you know...i dont think it is what the original intention was...only a reflection of our falleness projected on god...
ReplyDeleteSo much truth in what you say... personally I believe any religious war is non-religious... It's against all definitions.
ReplyDeleteTightly written and it kind of punches. Nice job.
ReplyDeleteYou had me at Kipling. So much to think through in each of these. Philosophy does that, doesn't it? Thank you for these.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful message specially the last verse ~ I prefer peace over fanaticism ~
ReplyDeleteHistory repeats under another name. Whatever group, there's always good and bad. Nice write.
ReplyDeleteWell said!
ReplyDeleteWell and perfectly said, Glenn.
ReplyDelete--George
No wonder you wrote a series of sijo - the theme you've chosen is ambitious beyond even the expanse of the forty-five syllables. Your exposition of the political and religious framework behind current headlines is incisive, thought-provoking.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to stir up a hornet's nest here, but there are Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh and Jewish extremists too - and they are also ready and willing to use violence to further their aims, whatever those might be. It seems to me that where the world is today is what happens when faith is replaced by religion.
ReplyDeleteExcellent poem
ReplyDeleteBut duly note in the last few years Buddhists in Myanmar have murdered thousands of Muslims in retaliation for Muslims murdering Buddhists, and many sects of Buddhism have a goal of intentionally antagonising various govournments and militarities to provoke violence against them and then these sects retaliate with violence
The Israel-Arab conflict - need I say more?
Hardcore Jewish Settlers attack fellow Jews in Jerusalem 24/7; an ultra-Orthodox Haredi Zionist Jew murdered Israeli Jewish Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
Hindus have oppressed and tyrannized and raped and robbed and genocided each other and Hinduism is rife with honour killings, and various sects of Hindus have threatened and attacked Muslims and Westerners alike
Sikhism is also rife with honour killings
Violence exists everywhere
Very powerful...no religion or books advocate terror..its sad that the readers interpret it for their own selfish motives...we all, with no exceptions, go back to the five elements from where we come!!
ReplyDeleteYes indeed!
ReplyDeleteA powerful use of the form.
..no religion or books advocate terror
ReplyDelete____________________
Yes they do and it's a liar who says otherwise
Man's mind is the root of all evil
ReplyDeleteViolence predates the spoken word and the written word