The World Literature Blog

Show and tell #Glopowrimo12 (The signficant and the dull)

God told Abraham or Ibrahim
Take your son
and kill him at once
The father said, What the ....?
God said, if you don't want me on your tail, go on
Where do you want this murder done?
God said, you crazy man, it can't be done!
Instead of Isaac or Ismail, a ram was killed

Oedipus came into the big town
Seeking his mother and father he'd come
The king came down the road in a rush
In a carriage, and would stop for none
Oedipus, enraged, threw a spear at him
That was the first case of fratricide
Where the son had killed his dad
Without knowing it, Delphic oracle decreed

Mary or Mirian gave birth to a boy
Some people took him and nailed him to a cross
for saying he was a/The son/Son of God
whom he called "Abba"", which was pretty odd
He also said he knew Abraham or Ibrahim
My God, nothing stopped them from killing him
for being different from them all
But where he was, said Estragon
"It was warm, and they crucified quick"
Estragon who always compared himself to him
Waiting for Godot who never came in

Stories about fathers and sons
Fathers kill sons
Sons kill fathers
Stories of God and gods and their unreasonable demands
Men and women look on, feeling dim and dull
Fathers love sons
Sons love fathers
Afterwards the irrational God or gods make amends
In the margins, a ram was killed
Did that ram have a kid?
A curse came on the land because Oedipus was quick
To throw a spear, to kill the Sphinx
To marry Jocasta, his mother, and to end up punished
His crime being wanting to know the truth
wanting to know who his parents are
Millions have died or spoken true in the name of Christ
Millions have killed or been killed or lied in the name of Christ
All this is, no doubt, significant

I come to tell you now of the dull
What of daughters, and of rams' and their kids?
What of mothers who lose children to war, hunger, famine or disease?
What of sons who lose their fathers?
What of fathers away from their sons?
What of fathers who are away from their daughters?
What of daughters who lose their fathers?
What of daughters who lose their mothers?
What of mothers who lose their daughters?
What of the orphans and the widows?
What of siblings left alone to care for each other?
Oh, this list of questions is very dull
But in it is hid my real treasure
Beyond the stories is an impenetrable silence
That only asks what have you done
Not not done
for each stone that you threw at someone
or each hand you gave to lift up the fallen
who was carrying his own or her own
weight or burden
transforming the dull
putting an end to the insistent tom-tom
of the what of of my innumerable boring questions
at least once or for a while
making the dull shine, in a trice
What of the questions, if there are no attempts
made to allay the fears of one
or some or a few or many
made to allay the fears of all?