Negative thinking is one of the worst things you can do to yourself. One negative thought leads to another, which leads to a snowball effect of thinking that you can’t control. Pay close attention to your thoughts by noticing your feelings, if you are thinking something that is potentially negative turn it around immediately and replace it with something positive. This simple act will make a world of difference to your mood, and your life over all.

It is a little bit hard for me to explain how I feel about this one. On the one hand, I do not think she is wrong in saying that it is not a good idea to dwell on negative thoughts. On the other hand, I feel that her use of “negative” and “positive” is ambiguous; I suspect that our ideas about each will differ. Of course, it is impossible for me to say for certain what the PT has in mind when she refers to “negative thinking,” but I have a pretty good idea. The PT seems to be all about feelings – you want to feel happy, loved, peaceful, etc; you do not want to feel sad, lonely, guilty, etc. If something makes you feel sad, don’t think about it; think about something that makes you feel happy. I wonder, though, if the PT is taking sinful thoughts into consideration. Given her opinion of guilt, I have a feeling she isn’t. Would she consider lust a negative thought, for instance? Again, I can’t say with any degree of certainty the PT’s definition of negative, but this ambiguity is what makes her advice somewhat dangerous. Now, it just so happens that a very similar admonition appears in the Bible (and much more clearly, too):

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Philippians 4:8

Is it even possible to be more clear than that? Think about things that are true, not lies or falsehoods; things that are just, not unjust; pure, not dirty; lovely, not ugly; commendable, not improper; things that are excellent and worthy of praise, not foul or that need be censured. The Bible is also pretty clear about what is true, just, pure, etc. Quite simply, the best things for us to be thinking about are God and His Word. This is wonderfully expressed in the Psalms – lets take a look, shall we?

¹Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
²but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

³He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers. ⁴The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

Ps. 1:1-4

In these few verses we see that there is a clear difference in a wicked lifestyle and the life of one who immerses himself in the word of God – the life of one is blessed, the other is mere useless trash blown away by the wind. I love that the Psalmist delights in the law of the Lord – it is not a burden or an onerous chore to meditate on the word of God; instead it is a gift and a blessing!

This is expressed in even stronger language in Psalm 63:

¹O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
²So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
³Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
⁴So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

⁵My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
⁶when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
⁷for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
⁸My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

Ps. 63:1-8

Not only is the steadfast love of God better than life, the mere thought of the Lord is like a rich feast to the soul! Is that not better than casting about for some vague “positive thought?”

¹I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
to you, O LORD, I will make music.
²I will ponder the way that is blameless.
Oh when will you come to me?
I will walk with integrity of heart
within my house;
³I will not set before my eyes
anything that is worthless.
I hate the work of those who fall away;
it shall not cling to me.
⁴ A perverse heart shall be far from me;
I will know nothing of evil.

Ps. 101:1-4

⁹How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
¹¹I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
¹²Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes!
¹³With my lips I declare
all the rules^[a] of your mouth.
¹⁴In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
¹⁵I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
¹⁶I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word

Ps. 119:9-16

⁹⁷Oh how I love your law!
It is my meditation all the day.
⁹⁸Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is ever with me.
⁹⁹I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your testimonies are my meditation.
¹⁰⁰I understand more than the aged,^[b]
for I keep your precepts.
¹⁰¹I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.
¹⁰²I do not turn aside from your rules,
for you have taught me.
¹⁰³How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.

Ps. 119:97-104

These passages illustrate that reading and thinking about and meditating on God’s word is necessary to keep us from falling into sin and temptation. Thus Paul’s exhortation to think on things that are true and pure and excellent. Thinking on these things will indeed make your life better – a better witness, a better example, a better reflection of God’s glory.*

These are just a few passages that exemplify my point. Others in Psalms that would be worthwhile reads are Psalms 8, 42, 92, 141, and 147.

*It is important to note that better should not be confused with easier. Christian’s are not promised a life free from struggle, not should we expect one.

guilt

noun

1.

the fact or state of having committed an offense, crime, violation, or wrong, especially against moral or penal law; culpability: He admitted his guilt.

2.

a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined.

3.

conduct involving the commission of such crimes, wrongs, etc.: to live a life of guilt.

So, what is the advice this positive thinker gives you?

Does guilt ever change the situation? Can it reverse time and change the past? The answer is NO! Guilt has no use what-so-ever. Let it go and get on with living. Take whatever it is that is making you feel guilty and use it as a lesson learned.

The main point of this little noodle of advice is “guilt has no use what-so-ever.” You should not feel guilty about anything you have done; all guilt is doing is holding you back from “get[ting] on with [life].”

Basically, this advice is a “free pass” to ignoring anything that might make you feel bad about something you have done or said. Cheat on your husband/wife? Don’t you dare feel bad about that, just keep living life. Say something cruel to a friend/sibling/complete stranger? It really doesn’t have anything to do with you how you made them feel, so banish that uneasy feeling and go do something that makes you happy.

Any person that stops and thinks about this advice before blindly latching onto it will realize the faults inherent in it, without even consulting a Bible.

What this Positive Thinker (PT) fails to acknowledge is that if a person is feeling guilty, it is usually because that person has done something wrong. And while guilt – the actual feeling of having done or said something wrong (def. 2 above) – doesn’t itself change the situation, it does lead the person who feels guilt to change the situation, whether that is by confessing a crime, apologizing for an offense or a mistake, breaking off an affair that is ruining a marriage, etc. That is pretty useful, if you ask me.

Now, lets go a bit deeper.

Why do we feel guilt? Because we have done something  wrong – morally, ethically, or criminally. Even more specifically, we feel guilt because we have sinned. We have broken God’s holy law and turned our backs on our Creator. There is no one exempt from this, either, as Romans 3:10 tells us, “None is righteous, no not one.”

What, then, is the purpose of guilt? Does it just exist to drive us to despair for failing God? No, actually. It exists to drive us to turn to God.

David was a man who knew the love and mercy of God intimately. When he sinned against God he did not pretend that he hadn’t done anything wrong; he didn’t dismiss his guilt as merely something that was keeping him from being happy. He saw his guilt as an indication that he had sinned and that he was no longer living a life pleasing to God. A very well-known psalm that illustrates this is Psalm 51:

¹ Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!

³ For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
⁵Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.

⁷Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
⁹ Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹²Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.

¹³Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
¹⁴Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
¹⁵O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
¹⁶ For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
¹⁷The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

¹⁸ Do good to Zion in your good pleasure;
build up the walls of Jerusalem;
¹⁹then will you delight in right sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings;
then bulls will be offered on your altar.

(emphasis mine)

David realized that the only way for him to stop feeling guilty was to admit his sin to God – but it is very important to note here that he did not admit his sin just so that he could get rid of that pesky, unpleasant feeling. He admitted his sin so that he would once again be in a right relationship with God.

God does not ignore our guilt (def. 1 above), and He will not allow us to continue living in guilt (def. 3). It was because of their sin that God punished Israel when they turned from Him.

It was because of our sin – our guilt – that Jesus had to die.

For Christians, feeling guilt can in some ways be a source of comfort. That may sound strange, but hear me out.

Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the heart of every believer. He has many functions, one of which is conviction of sin. That’s right – He’s the one that makes us feel guilty.

As Christians, we know that we will still sin, but we pray that we will be given the strength and help to resist temptation, and to avoid areas that we know will be a temptation to us. However, we do sin. And when we sin, it can be easy to think that because of that sin God will forsake us and not love us anymore.

But then the Holy Spirit convicts and reproves, and as we repent and turn back to God, we are comforted because God reproves those He loves:

My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
⁶For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.

So guilt is not just some useless emotion that can and should be ignored or banished or trivialized. It is not something you should get rid of – or, as the PT would say, “Let go of” – just because it makes you feel bad and might make you do something that will cause further discomfort like apologizing, or putting somebody else’s feelings before your own.

Guilt should cause us to repent of the wrong that we have done; it turns us toward God; it convinces us of His love.

One day there will be no more guilt, but until that time do not dismiss it as something useless.

Of course, I can’t say I always agree that such-and-such Freshly Pressed post should have, in fact, been Freshly Pressed. Usually that’s just a matter of taste, though – I can’t really see what is so special about a post with just one somewhat above-average picture on it. Oh well.

Other times, I wish that a post wasn’t featured because of the content. That is the case with this post which was featured just a couple of days ago.

There is some deceptively appealing stuff in that post. I mean, who wouldn’t agree that they have negative things in their life? Who wouldn’t agree that there are positive things that could, and should, replace those negative things. So, the point of the post – and the whole blog, from what I can gather – is bad stuff out, good stuff in and the power of positive thinking.

I would like to look at each of the ten things the author lists individually, examining what she says, her reasoning, and her advice. After seeing what she says, I will present the biblical view of the item. Differences will be evident. Stay tuned.

Today was a lovely, cool, sunny day, and I spent it outside in downtown Greenville, mostly at Falls Park on the Reedy. I think I walked around seven miles, given the walk from the parking garage to the park, and then all through the park, and then back.

Anyway. Pictures!

]]> http://charebo.wordpress.com/2011/10/25/a-long-walk-downtown-greenville/feed/ 0 charebo IMG_0967 IMG_0980 IMG_1005 IMG_1011 IMG_0955 IMG_0960 IMG_0963 IMG_0967 IMG_0974 IMG_0978 IMG_0980 IMG_0981 IMG_0983 IMG_0986 IMG_0989 IMG_0990 IMG_0993 IMG_0998 IMG_0999 IMG_1000 IMG_1001 IMG_1005 IMG_1008 IMG_1011 IMG_1012 IMG_1015 http://charebo.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/hey-you-youre-committing-a-logical-fallacy-stop-it/ http://charebo.wordpress.com/2011/10/23/hey-you-youre-committing-a-logical-fallacy-stop-it/#comments Sun, 23 Oct 2011 21:09:06 +0000 charebo http://charebo.wordpress.com/?p=473 ]]> People can be irritating sometimes, can’t they? Customers who tear a store apart and then act like it’s the employee’s fault when something can’t be found. Those friends who complain about the same person/rule/idea all the time. Women who carry dogs around in purses. There are many more, as we all know. And also as we all know, each one of us has been one of “those” people at least once. Some of us are serial offenders.

And, of course, there are times when the woman with the dog in her purse isn’t bothersome at all. But then there comes a time when that woman who dared to put that poor dog in her stupid purse is so amazingly offensive you don’t even want to talk about it. But then you do.

False dichotomies were like that for me.

A false dichotomy is a logical fallacy in which there are only two solutions given to any particular problem when there are actual more than two options. Some examples include “If you’re not for us, you’re against us” or “You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.”

I’ve known that false dichotomies exist for a while now. They used to come up quite frequently in discussions of literature in my classes at USM. I’m fairly certain that I specifically addressed false dichotomies in  at least one of my papers. But for some reason I never made the connection that these false ways of presenting arguments occur in the real world and not just in literature. (Well, duh, Charity – it just so happens that one of the main goals of literature is to reflect life. Yeah, yeah. I know. Shut up.)

Like I said, I never really thought of things that people I know said as being false dichotomies. And then I saw this status update on Facebook:

“Don’t be a woman that needs a man, be a woman that a man needs!”

These types of sayings have always annoyed me, if I’m being honest, and I happen to have a few friends that regularly post similar “words of wisdom” to Facebook. It took me a while to figure out what exactly it was about these types of sayings that was so annoying. Finally, when I read the above quote, it hit me.

False Dichotomy! That’s it!

It is actually liberating in a way to know that instead of just arguing against the “women are/should be better than men cuz men are all dogs and there ain’t no good ones left” mentality with my feelings that that mentality isn’t right (because, you know, I rather like guys…) I can instead use the power of logic to condemn their illogicalities.

So, what’s so wrong with the statement quoted above? What is wrong with saying a woman shouldn’t need a man? What is wrong with wanting to be needed?

Well, as false dichotomies do, it presents only two options: Either women should need men, or men should need women.

The statement seems to be in response to all those whiney women who are constantly in search of the next boyfriend. Those women who can’t seem to get by without a male figure in their life. Yes, those women need to learn that they should not be relying on a man for happiness.

However, the statement does not take into consideration that there happen to be plenty of men that “need” to be in a relationship. Well, actually, the statement likes it that way.

It wants women to think they don’t need anyone to make them happy, but men ought to depend on women for happiness.

Oh, I think that’s gross.

So, what are the options this false dichotomy is not presenting?

Well, first of all I would say that it is entirely possible that both men and women should need each other. It is an unequal and unhealthy relationship where one member gives and gives while the other takes and takes.

A better option, though, is that neither the man or the woman should be relying on the other for happiness in the first place. There is no human that will always be there, never let us down, always love us, and never forget about us. Well, no human that isn’t also God.

Jesus. That’s right. He is the only one we should be placing our hopes for happiness on, as He is the only one that can truly accomplish what He has promised.

Here is another one that annoyed me:

This one says that you have two choices; either hate those that hate you or love those people who love you.

Well, that’s all well and good from a worldly point of view. What really got me was that it was a Christian who posted this.

Here is what Jesus had to say about this very topic:

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Matthew 5:43-48 (emphasis mine)

Jesus very explicitly says that there is another option. Well, it’s more than an option, really. It’s a command: love your enemies, pray for those that persecute you; love people who hate you.

There you have two examples of false dichotomies straight from Facebook itself. I’m starting to see them everywhere. I’m starting to worry if I’m guilty of making them myself. It is likely that I have; but hopefully, now that I am more aware of their real-world appearances, that is one kind of mistake I will be able to avoid.

Another is carrying a dog in a purse…

On winter nights the mermaid sings

I was made for better things

Better things, dearie, better things.

—

In early spring the ghost princess

Goes haunting in her pretty dress

Pretty dress, your majesty, pretty dress.

—

And I have heard the singing of real birds

Not those absurd birds that simply everybody’s heard.

Real birds.

—

In summer when the moon is full

The wolf boy is adorable

Adorable, you’re adorable.

—

I have observed the winging of real birds

Not those reserved birds that simply everyone’s observed.

Real birds.

“Better Things” – The Magnetic Fields on Realism

I love this song. No, I really love this song.

It can make me feel a sort of soft sun-shine-and-shadows happiness, or melancholy with bittersweet edges.

Of course, to really appreciate the song, you have to’ve heard it. Thus, I suggest you go listen to it. Right now. Go on.

The tune is simple and understated while the lyrics and soft vocals carry you along oh-so-dreamily. And did you catch the chirping and twittering in the background in places? That’s something that can feel so gimmicky and “clever,” but they pulled it off just perfectly.

I love the implication that fantastical things can be more “real” than some things we see every day. The entire album revolves around this theme, but I believe this song states that theme most clearly.

Perhaps the over-arching reason I like this song so much is it’s lullaby-ness. These soothing-type songs always stick with me and tend to be the ones I end up singing to myself over and over. Other songs along this line that I love would be “Into the West” from Lord of the Rings, “Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)” by Billy Joel, and “Birdcage” and “Baby Bird” by The Wallflowers. If you’re like me and you love lullabies, these are worth checking out.

I shall briefly recap:

Today was the first truly stressful day of my graduate career. A test that I nearly forgot about and a presentation to make will do that. Add on to that having to finish reading for and then writing a required if-it’s-not-turned-in-by-the-start-of-class-it’s-a-zero reading report. And then of course there was the hot coffee knocked over and spilled on me when all the stressful stuff of the day was supposed to already be over with.

Now, could I have avoided a large part of the aforementioned stress? Yes, I could have. I will readily admit that I brought a lot of it on myself. For instance, I could have had the reading report and the work for my presentation finished before yesterday afternoon when I realized that there was a test scheduled for this morning, thus giving me ample time to study and still have room for tweaking the presentation during what could have been free hours between classes.

That being said, the test was not truly a point of concern for me – it just meant that I woke up an hour earlier than usual to go over the notes and chapters once. Feel pretty confident about it, in any case.

And scrambling to finish a reading report in an hour or two is nothing new for me, to be honest.

No, the true source of the stressing out was the presentation. A little, itty-bitty, less than ten minute presentation about a literary resource that I had researched, given to a class of only ten people. Oh, how my tummy clenches at the very thought.

See, if there had been no other assignments due for any of my other classes, today would still have been enormously stressful just in anticipation of a presentation due to be delivered at 1 o’clock. Everything else just compounded it.

So what does all of this have to do with being a crybaby? Well, I’ll tell you.

When I have had either a very low (low self-esteem, lonely) or a very stressful day (e.g. Today, see above) just about anything can cause me to break down into a teary, snotty mess. This could be a semi-harsh criticism of a piece of creative writing, for example, or a really nice person showing genuine interest in how my day was, or a sad, sad story. Thus, I probably should not have read about the last days of a very sick, well-beloved dog.

I absolutely bawled my eyes out. And then I thought about my dog, Trinket, and the time I’m not getting to spend with her – and so I bawled some more.

I’m so glad neither of my roommates were around – they would have thought something terrible had happened.

Well, I did manage to pull myself together in time to get to church. In retrospect, it was probably a good thing I used up so many of my tears before church, otherwise I would have been crying all through the service as the young man preaching chose to open his sermon with the story of Horatio Spafford‘s writing of “It Is Well With My Soul.” That story makes me tear up every time, I tell you.

In any case, I only cried a little bit more (which was good – crying in public is so icky to me) and was soon able to concentrate on the message (from Psalm 63, which I highly recommend you to go read). Following the message was the time for prayer requests, and then prayer in small groups. After we prayed, I talked to a nice lady about bettas and her fish killing ways. Not a single tear threatened to escape.

Now, often*, whenever I have one of these meltdowns, I will tell myself, “Stop crying, this is stupid, stop it” pretty much to no avail. And isn’t that the way it usually goes? Telling somebody (or yourself) to “suck it up” doesn’t really help matters.

What really helps is getting in the Bible, talking to God, being around a group of faithful, loving Christians as they share praises, testimonies, and prayer requests, and as they support and lift each other up. Listening to requests for prayer for serious health concerns, or opportunities to witness to the lost or encourage fellow believers made me think about the blessings in my own life (and how little I had to be crying over): I have wonderful, godly parents, a very close relationship with my youngest brother, and amicable relationships with my other two siblings; I go to a school that emphasizes God and the Word and living according to that Word; I have roommates I get along with; I have a job, and a car, and warm blankets. I have been saved by the grace of a loving, merciful Savior.

And so, the conclusion I draw from all this is that I might be a crybaby, but I am a loved crybaby – and perhaps it’s about time I learned to not procrastinate so much…

- – -

*I don’t mean to say that this happens all the time – I’m not that big of a crybaby.

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the sky above proclaims his  handiwork.

Day to day pours out speech,

and night to night reveals knowledge.

There is no speech, nor are there words,

whose voice is not heard.

Their voice goes out through all the earth,

and their words to the end of the world.

~Psalm 19:1-4

These verses make me happy.

This is a very familiar passage from the Psalms, but one of the things that I love about the Bible is the way verses that we might know from heart can suddenly have new life and meaning. I was struck by these particular verses, and the chapter as a whole yesterday in Sunday School (I’m sure the young man who taught the lesson would appreciate that). Perhaps in a few days when I have gathered my thoughts more about it I will do a post entirely devoted to this Psalm. For now I just want to say that I love how creation both shows God’s glory as well as speaks of God’s glory. And the language it speaks is intelligible to all people. Not a day goes by that we are not witness to God’s greatness.

On a rather different theological note, a gentleman for whom I was bagging crickets told me that in 2012 aliens were going to come.

Well, first he asked me, quite out of the blue – I was just catching crickets – if I had seen the movie 2012. I haven’t and I said as much, adding that I don’t really go in for end-of-the-world stuff. His reply tickles me, in that he said it wasn’t about the end of the world but instead “about the end of the world as we know it.” I could start singing right now.

So he goes on to tell me that I should look up “Planet X” and I would find out all about it – it’s been on the History Channel and in the news (and therefore totally legitimate) and of course that’s where aliens came into the picture. [On a side note, I don't understand why these types of people tell you to "look up" whatever they are telling you about instead of just wanting you to take their word for it - the very first result in a Google search of "planet x" is a very well-written article explaining why the whole thing is a load of malarkey. You can read that article here.] At some point he said something about “God willing we’ll survive,” to which I replied, “Well, I believe in God, so I’m not worried about aliens.”

Perhaps you can guess what his next argument was?

He went on to use the book of Ezekiel (the “wheel within a wheel”) as evidence of aliens (his argument being that in those passages it is describing some type of “ship” and God doesn’t need a ship so…)! Also, Enoch and Elijah being caught up to heaven was the work of aliens, not God. I feel like I learned so much today!

It was a really odd conversation, and I was quite glad it was cut short by another customer needing to buy some crickets.

This chick.

Thankfully, I have some awesome literary folk I can claim as acquaintences/facebook friends who put poems in their statuses.

But anyway. Yes. Today is National Poetry Day! Apparently the theme this year is “Games.”

Games? Really? I don’t think I’m going to worry about the theme. Instead, in honor of it being National Poetry day I will give you some poems that I dearly love, or have sentimental value to me, or I just think are cool.

Ahem.

I think I will start with John Donne.

Now, I can’t claim to be the biggest Donne fan ever. In fact, a lot of his metaphysical poems are really not to my liking at all. However, I love his Holy Sonnets, and of those, this one in particular:

Batter my heart, three person’d God; for you

As yet but knocke, breathe, shine, and seeke to mend;

That I may rise, and stand, oerthrow mee,’and bend

Your force, to breake, blowe, burn and make me new.

I, like an usurpt towne, to’another due,

Labour to’admit  you, but Oh, to no end,

Reason your viceroy in mee, mee should defend,

But is captiv’d, and proves weake or untrue,

Yet dearely’I love you, and would be lov’d faine,

But am betroth’d unto your enemie,

Divorce mee,’untie, or breake that knot againe,

Take mee to you, imprison mee, for I

Except you’enthrall mee, never shall be free,

Nor ever chast, except you ravish mee.

It isn’t beautifully phrased and smooth, but almost brutish in it’s force, but that just makes it all the more powerful to me. I love the image of the unsaved person as a conquered town that must allow God to reclaim them.

I have already shared a couple of my favorite Dylan Thomas poems, but I couldn’t do a post about poetry without mentioning him.

I just read this poem of his last night. I hope you find it as stark and moving as I did.

Light breaks where no sun shines;

Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart

Push in their tides;

And, broken ghosts with glow-worms in their heads,

The things of light

File through the flesh where no flesh decks the bones.

-

A candle in the thighs

Warms youth and seed and burns the seeds of age;

Where no seed stirs,

The fruit of man unwrinkles in the stars,

Bright as a fig;

Where no wax is, the candle shows its hairs.

-

Dawn breaks behind the eyes;

From poles of skull and toe the windy blood

Slides like a sea;

Nor fenced, nor staked, the gushers of the sky

Spout to the rod

Divining in a smile the oil of tears.

-

Night in the sockets rounds,

Like some pitch moon, the limit of the globes;

Day lights the bone;

Where no cold is, the skinning gales unpin

The winter’s robes;

The film of spring is hanging from the lids.

-

Light breaks on secret lots,

On tips of thought where thoughts smell in the rain;

When logics dies,

The secret of the soil grows through the eye,

And blood jumps in the sun;

Above the waste allotments the dawn halts.

Another man whose poetry I enjoy is Wallace Stevens. I first read this poem – and actually, all the other poems I will mention – in my Literary Analysis class at Southern. Happy times.

Anecdote of the Jar

I placed a jar
in Tennessee,
And round it was, upon a hill.
It made the slovenly
wilderness
Surround that hill.
-
The wilderness rose up to it,
And
sprawled around, no longer wild.
The jar was round upon the ground
And
tall and of a port in air.
-
It took dominion everywhere.
The jar was
gray and bare.
It did not give of bird or bush,
Like nothing else in
Tennessee.

Here is another of his poems that I am quite fond of:

Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock

The houses are
haunted
By white night-gowns.
None are green,
Or purple with green
rings,
Or green with yellow rings,
Or yellow with blue rings.
None of
them are strange,
With socks of lace
And beaded ceintures.
People are
not going
To dream of baboons and periwinkles.
Only, here and there, an old sailor,
Drunk and asleep in his boots,
Catches Tigers
In red
weather.

He’s pretty cool, yeah?

Alright, lastly, I would like to put a teeny-tiny little poem here by William Carlos Williams. First off, I just love his name – it has such a nice, bouncy rhythm to it. Anyway. We talked about this poem an awful lot in Literary Analysis. You would think that would make anyone sick of it. But maybe you’ll understand after you’ve read it.

The Red Wheelbarrow

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

Very sparse, yet very loaded.

Anyway, those are all the poems I have to share on this National Poetry Day.  I hope you liked them.

What poems will you be reading or sharing today?

Impulses

- – -

There is a stranger,

his back towards me-

curved like a bow

defined strong shoulders

and spine – and

I am crazy, crazy

for wanting to rub those shoulders,

to kiss the base of his neck;

to run my hands down

and down smooth skin

then up to count

the naked bones

with my fingertips;

to lean into the curve of him

and never see his face

never hear his voice spill

over me, drown me, wash me

away from him;

to hold on to his

broad bare body

tight and tight

muscles move beneath

my hands and they

move smooth and

powerful and I will

curl against, sleep

next to him and forget

the world in which

this back did not exist.

The title of the poem is “Impulses.” The title of this post is “Courage” because I feel like I need a lot of it right now.

I wrote this poem a while ago, when I was at Southern. It’s actually one of my favorite poems that I’ve ever written. It is also perhaps one of the most personal poems I have ever written. It scared me to submit this poem, along with five others, to the Sigma Tau Delta International Convention the same way it would be scary to submit anything for judging and possible rejection. The people reading and judging it in that case were very impersonal.

It scares me to post it on this blog because this is a very personal space.

Perhaps it is irrational, this fear of allowing this part of me to be seen by people I know and love.

But then again, I really do think this is one of the best poems I’ve ever written – it’s not perfect, of course; I know that. But it sits on my hard drive, asking why I’ve hidden it away. Daring me to share it.

And so here I am, trying to be brave. It has taken much longer to write these few short paragraphs than it decently should have. Really, these paragraphs are me psyching myself up to hit the “Publish” button, which has never looked more menacing.

Ah well. Here I go.