God always comes up amidst discussions of tragedy, natural or otherwise. Doesn't a responsible Christian have to conclude that God does not involve herself in either the saving or the taking of lives? Is there any way to discuss this without resorting to trite slogans?
On an entirely different note, can anyone explain to me what distinguishes a poem from prose anymore? Is this a good poem or a crappy one? I just can't tell anymore. What are the criteria for judging good poetry? Cue any readers who teach english in Nebraska.
For example, the following poem, excerpted from an anthology called The Best American Poetry from the last year:
No, dirt aliens: don't waste good mascara, fiber gives you confi-dence. Spin doctors vs. gravity, do you spandex wooden leg plus spazhemp tempi seize the fey crawlspatiality creatures peel off. Barbie pro-tons slobber the manual seedling wrapped in human skin. Happy puppypreconscious vouchers don't brownnose your pal's girlfriend, a swaggerunanointed affect in its gob phase. Automated preparation H—a non-goosing, a midriff melody—stir the rack up…mere child has herpermit.
Bruce Andrews, “from Dang Me”
Now don't get me wrong, I can appreciate a certain druggy, beat poet, a-sensical cachet to this piece of work, but what separates this from druggy, beat poet prose?
Cooks in the Kitchen
What Nathan is Reading
Cassandra
She has some thoughts...
What do you think the chances are of these idiots sticking with this blog this time?
5 comments:
Responsible Christians are a rare breed. And quite obviously most Christians do believe that God is involved in this type of activity. Why should you care what they believe?
First of all, I know quite a few responsible Christians (although most of them are members of this blog). And second, I think that believing that God works in this way is harmful. It insults those who have been personally involved in tragedy, and it makes God into a arbitrary being who metes out punishment and reward without regard for innocence or guilt, and certainly without compassion.
I think personally that an honest confrontation with the problem of evil requires one of two responses: removing God from punishment and reward on earth. Or removing God completely. But I could be wrong.
The principal difference between prose and poetry, as Donald Rumsfeld could tell you, is scoring. Annie Dillard is poetry set to prose--most poetry is crap set to rhyme.
Rhyming crap
ASAP
Plays in my head
Instead
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I wish I could blog as good as you, but what I can do is give you a nice Guitar Lesson!
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