I love alicia ostriker...

Part of my Advent discipline has been to take time to read some poetry. I love it as much as visual art and move through fits and starts of taking the time to let it touch me.  Today I came across this one, "Ridiculous" by Alicia Ostriker ~ a poet I cherish ~ and I think she got it right.

This is ridiculous
said the literary old woman
nobody gives us any respect
the young in one another's arms
are talking on their ipods
the politicians are lying through their teeth
and our husbands are taking a nap

this is ridiculous
said the tulip
all those genetically altered blossoms
those stupid long-lived orchids
that are practically plastic
and those fancy designer grasses
getting more than market share

this is ridiculous
said the dog
now they not only have to walk me
sanitary plastic bags
what is it but old-fashioned
imperialism

What she does here is "notice" ~ practice sacred  awareness ~ which is "what holds our world together" notes Joan Chittister.  In her essential, Wisdom Distilled from the Daily, she observes that "the lack of awareness and sacred care is what is tearing us apart."

We are a people who lack awareness. We're a world that has lost a sense of balance. We're a people for whom wholeness is a frayed and sorry notion. The assembly-line culture has atomized our production process and our way of thinking. No one sees the consequences of their actions coming together anymore... what is needed is a spirituality that asks us to recognize our connectedness... and be mindful. (pp. 69-70)

To notice ~ to slow down and become aware and mindful ~ is a counter-cultural act in 21st century America.  No wonder some of the Occupy Wall Street leaders speak of their movement as one allied with a new monasticism.  Donna Schaper put it like this today in an essay I hope you will read @ http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/politics/5459/i_was_wrong_about_occupy

The occupiers describe how sad they were about their lives, both present and future, until they found each other. If you were worried about “young people today” before, you will be terrified after you read about the emptiness, the bought-and-soldness, the futility, the lack of any place to be or person to be. Paul Mayer, a friend of the Berrigans, was in our meeting. He said, “Be sure to read Thomas Merton’s essay on Marxism and Monasticism. It will explain to you what they are saying about the need to separate in order to enter.”

Ostriker is right... this is ridiculous ~ and something new is waiting to be born.

credits:
1) smashinghub.com
2) www.deviant.com