Four Views

Being Agnostic, over the years I've thought quite a bit about God and so have written quite a bit about the subject. Following are four poems I've written about the matter of God that adopt a variety of viewpoints. The first poem is quite optimistic, the second quite cynical, the third skeptical, while the fourth imagines what a conversation with God might be like. You certainly can't say my views on the matter of God aren't well rounded :) Over the years, I've found you learn more by asking questions about God than by assuming you have answers.  Perhaps the most insightful thing I've found over the years, is that regardless of whether or not there is a God, at the very least, there ought to be.  

Words Blind

Words can blind you

Make you think the word

is the thing.

Drape what you believe you see

in preconceptions and assumptions.

Shade what you and others experience

with shadows of news bites

catchy phrases

and rhetorical spin.

Or put cloth over your eyes

with fossilized passages

whose meaning

has been lost to time.

Every creature you ever see

just by virtue of existing

is a waking enigma clothed in a mystery

wrapped in a dream.

If someone as simple as a man

is such a thing

how then in the farthest reaches

of our imagination

would we ever expect to figure out

something like the powers that be

that made this place

by blinding ourselves

with words like “God?”

It's true, a single word

can mean everything to you

or nothing at all

As you so choose.

On one hand, it's just the word

some people use

for the best thing they can imagine.

On the other hand,

after nine thousand years

it carries

about four train car loads of baggage.

So, what do you call

something so fair minded

that it gives enough quickness to cheetahs

that they can catch some food

while giving enough speed to antelope

that they can run away from trouble.

And is so compassionate

that it makes every single baby beautiful

can forgive mistakes men have rarely forgiven

and offer up chances in life over and over again.

With wisdom so deep

it can watch human hearts

mend and break at the same time

without going bat shit from time to time?

Personally, I'll not give it a name that blinds

I'm just some dude with a pen

and a couple thoughts now and then

I just ain't that smart.

Dewey Dirks

My God Spot

Walkin' down the road blue & dejected

Found an old oil can, rusty & hot

Took it on home, named it Spot

Made a place on the shelf

I don't know, maybe I'm odd

Kinda liked it there, called it God

Came in a dream wondrous to see

Spot said the Word & then there was light

Praise Lord Spot, He made things right

Now I'm his prophet & He's the Lord

I was lost 'till Spot made me whole

Praise Lord Spot, my life is full

He spoke to me one stormy day

Got some commandments, got a whole lot

Got the low down straight from Spot

Got some followers & some big green tanks

We're Spottites you see, ten thousands & more

The Spottites & me, are wagin' a holy war

In a thousand years all over this land

They'll still raise their voices in praise of Lord Spot

Just an old oil can rusty & hot

Dewey Dirks

Don't call me collect --God

Perhaps on some golden throne

alive in the sky, you watch over each of us

--rain warm love, bathing one by one

man and sparrow with most tender care

Or, like a child at play

did you make the clock your grand experiment?

then, called to dinner, you plan to be back at eight

wondering if we'll still be tocking

Are you a big ashen bearded daddy?

with all the answers up there

will you spank us forever if we don't believe?

Maybe you're a cosmic hippie

you say "Hey don't you remember?

ten thousand years ago

we all stood at Salisbury in ecstasy"

Then, with hand to forehead you say

"Or maybe it was nineteen seventy-one

you know, all that acid still gets to me"

Are you a wrinkled old man?

stuttering, the very edge of senility

you wait at the gate, white picket complacency

We come home for a hug and obligatory visit

the younger playing Grandfather for a free dime

Perhaps you are a crone, ancient and wise

living in rock, road, brook, and tree

You made a hard, wondrous, magical land

where stumbling, we acolytes slowly learn of beauty

With fire on your finger tips

maybe you throw lightning bolts

make floods, cause the sky to darken

Perhaps you'll let five thousand faithful in

"All the rest be damned!" you say as the earth quakes

Perhaps one time, some time, ever time

we'll be sitting in the park, you and I

Muhammad, Gautama and Einstein play dice across the way

cool green grass, white daisies, blue sky, shade trees

I say, "You know, I wondered always if you were a figment"

You say, "Don't we all, my friend, begin and end in fantasy?"

Dewey Dirks

Route 27

Late one night

I was out for a ride on the bike

On a long desert road called State Route 27

The moon was full and bright

Stars peppered the warm August sky

The road was empty

And the night was asking

For a high speed run

I decided to open it on up

Let her go right to the edge

Let her really breath

I brought her up to around one thirty-five

And settled in for a ride long, fast and low

The headlight shouted out brightly in front of me

And the engine wound out in a high pitched yell

As the white lines blinked quickly on by

silent and oh so fast

My senses were as alert

As they could possibly get

And in spite of the darkness

Every detail of the passing road

Jumped out at my eyes

I swear I could see

The gravel embedded in the rushing asphalt

And the barbs on the wire fence

At the side of the road

Like so many times before

I fell once again, in love with life

The rapid beat of my heart

And the quickness of my rolling breath

Just then in my shimmering mirror

On the horizon behind me

I saw the headlight of another bike

Coming up hard, coming up quick

Ten seconds later

A slender figure on a dark blue chopper

blew by me like I was standing still

I rolled the throttle wide open

Pretty soon I was doing about one forty-three

But I couldn't catch her

And I watched her taillight

Quickly become a distant dot on the road

Right before it disappeared

It looked like she pulled over

I backed on down

Before long I was coming up beside her

I came to a stop

And shut off my bike

--Figured I'd rest for awhile

And chat with the lady

Leaning on on the seat of her ride

Having a smoke

Was a beautiful woman, maybe forty

With deep blue eyes and long dark hair

She and her bike had kind of a glow about them

Very subtle but bright at the same time

Friendly but kind of mysterious

Very quiet, kind of peaceful

Unquestionably kind

I nodded hello, not knowing exactly what to say

She nodded back and said

In a voice like a love song by Dido,

“Evening. Nice night for a drive.”

I looked back at her

And knew I had to wonder out loud

I smiled as best I could and asked,

“Just who are you?”

She shrugged and said,

“Oh, they call me by lots of names.

You probably know me as 'I am,'

or 'Alpha and Omega,' “Allah or 'Brahman'

Or some of that other useless stuff humans like to say.

You all really need to learn

Any word you want can mean everything

Or nothing at all

As you so choose.

Why don't you call me 'Sparky,'

Or 'Wiggles,' or 'Effy?'

That would suite me just fine.”

“You're God? Or maybe an Alien?” I asked

She chuckled and said,

“I'll leave all that up to you.”

I looked at her confused

“What are you doing here?” I asked

“Like you, I'm just out for a late night ride,” she smiled.

I still didn't know exactly who she was

But I did know she was someone very, very special

“I've got so many questions...” I stammered,

“I don't know where to begin.”

“One of the really nice things about people” she said,

“Is that they are very curious creatures.

Always full of questions.”

“So what's the right point of view?

We have so many...” I asked.

“You know all those religions and philosophies

That people bicker over

and fight about all the time?” she said,

“Well, they all have a few good ideas,

every one of them.

They all carry around a bunch of bullshit too.

And science is pretty much the same way.

People really need to learn to think

In a many-sided fashion

Instead of just bivalently.

You can put that in your pipe and smoke it,” she smiled.

I thought about that for a minute

Then I asked,

“So what does the future hold?

People seem so messed up a lot of the time.”

She took a drag on her cigarette and said,

“You know, some guy once said

That the meek would inherit the earth.

Well, I've got some news for you

---they inherited it some time back.

But humanity is kind of a fixer-upper species

And change can happen only so fast

Without making a big mess of everything.

Imagine the best of the 20's and 60's

Imagine the golden ages of music

And the intellectual leaps forward

During the Renaissance

These are previews of things to come

But humans have a ways to go

You've got to get it through

Your thick, Cro-Magnon heads

That every time you disagree

It's not good to start killing each other.

And you've got to learn to make governments

That don't attract power mongers quite so fast.

It's also important to learn to make companies

That have a conscience

And a genuine sense of human decency

And you humans really need to learn

To share a lot better.

“I said, “Geeze, we sound like bratty children.”

She chuckled, “Well, Homo sapiens

Is a pretty young species.

If all humanity were a single person

You'd be around twelve years old, by my reckoning.

So you see, you're just starting to grow up a bit.

Far in the future, when you're much older

You humans will have great adventures

And do great things, if you ask me.

She took a drag on her smoke, then continued,

“I have to tell you,

There will always be some inequalities

Because that's the only way to build a world

In which you can strive

But one day people will seek to better their spirit

With the same enthusiasm

That today they use to build better guns

And make more money.

There will also always be people better and worse

Because that's the only way to make a world

Where those who need to can learn to improve

But one day the worst of men

Will be as kind than the most generous human

Of your time.

One day men will fight their personal ignorance

And fear of their own inner beauty

With the same determination

They use to fight each other today.

All this might sound kind of strange

Considering the way humans are right now

But you can make this future

A reality one day for all mankind

By making it a reality for yourself today.

For humans, improvement happens

From the bottom up and from the inside out

One person at a time.

Now, don't think of being a good man

Like it means you gotta be

All pansy and syrupy sweet.

One day humans will be kind of like

The good-bad guys of the universe

They'll have kind dispositions

And big hearts

But with a lot of edge

Like a good rock and roll song

But humans need to realize

The most powerful things in life

Don't always end up fighting each other

You all have the bad habit

Of often thinking the greatest tests in life

Involve war and fighting and killing each other

When the biggest challenge a human can face

Is learning how to love better

Effy took one last drag off her cigarette

She glanced at it and said,

“Did I bother to mention

You really need to get off peoples asses

About smoking these things.

It's really not worse than overeating.”

Then she smiled and said,

“Damn! Enough talking. Lets take a ride.”

She got on her bike and cranked it on up

I could see the sky move a bit when it started

I got on my bike

And hit the button to light the tubes

Effy waited as the ground shook

With every thump of her engine

Then we pulled out onto Route 27

And pretty soon we were doing around one twenty-five

We rode beside each other till almost dawn

Just as the sun broke the skyline

I felt kindness and compassion wash over me

Along with a dose of 'fuck a fine mess' too

Then Effy down shifted

And gave me a thumbs-up

About ten seconds later all I could see of her

Was a tiny red taillight fading into the horizon

But I'll tell you, as the night had rolled on

With us riding side by side

I knew what it was to feel joy

Dewey Dirks