{"id":4793,"date":"2021-01-04T17:57:31","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T17:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=146021"},"modified":"2021-01-04T17:57:31","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T17:57:31","slug":"poems-saving-it-and-is-this-real","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/04\/poems-saving-it-and-is-this-real\/","title":{"rendered":"Poems: ‘Saving It’ and ‘Is This Real’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n
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SAVING IT<\/p>\n

Some think the world can be saved by love<\/p>\n

some think it can be saved by intelligence<\/p>\n

It is the old quarrel of the heart and the head<\/p>\n

each of which would be dead<\/p>\n

without its rival and although<\/p>\n

I am of those who doubt it can be saved<\/p>\n

too many people greedy too many in the kind of pain<\/p>\n

that perpetuates itself generation after generation<\/p>\n

who cannot save themselves from the chokehold<\/p>\n

of anger or from chasing oblivion<\/p>\n

long enough to do the world any good<\/p>\n

some say that is what bodhisattvas are for<\/p>\n

but regarding tikkun olam, I hear the rabbis say<\/p>\n

It is not incumbent on you to finish the task<\/p>\n

neither are you free to give it up<\/p>\n

\n

IS THIS REAL<\/p>\n

    Let me see, is this real<\/em><\/p>\n

    Let me see, is this real<\/em><\/p>\n

    Let me see, is this real<\/em><\/p>\n

    This life I am living.<\/em><\/p>\n

         \u2014Navajo prayer<\/em><\/p>\n

Nose in that book\/ white lightning but\/ no eagle no galloping horse\/ I was twenty<\/p>\n

lacking enough silence\/ no spacious cactus vista\/ nevertheless yes yes            <\/p>\n

white lightning this question ozone year chases year<\/p>\n

wishing I had a tribe to tell me the answer<\/p>\n

no answer\/ asking myself<\/p>\n

no answer\/ asking God<\/p>\n

asking in my pajamas aching\/ asking in my silks lifting the cocktail<\/p>\n

asking sidewalk sycamore is this real\/ men foraging in wastebaskets<\/p>\n

is this real the suffering and anger in city air thickening every year<\/p>\n

is it real my white apartment\/ is it real my sixty year marriage<\/p>\n

asking if the sky\u2019s headscarf is real if the Hudson sturgeon a highway away is real<\/p>\n

is this real my life\/ fool teacher poet\/ mother lover wife\/ tulip now wilting<\/p>\n

Is this real\/ now mask and distance\/ it is my life\/ let me see<\/p>\n

before death gathers me please let me finally see<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n

This post was originally published on Radio Free<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAVING IT Some think the world can be saved by love some think it can be saved by intelligence It is the old quarrel of the heart and\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":433,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4793"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/433"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4793"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4794,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4793\/revisions\/4794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}