The "M" Word.

Lots has been coming my way, about the institution of marriage.  I was recently sent an email, with links to pro-marriage information.  This was a response to current legislative changes being debated, regarding the legal definition of marriage.  Another friend had a bit of a vent on facebook this morning, about married men she had heard speaking incredibly disrespectfully of their wives...  and of course, for me, the subject is very personal - as my marriage is ending.

A slight change of pace...

Recently, I joined the Southern Highlands branch of the Fellowship of Australian Writers.  It's been wonderfully inspiring, I have to say.  Each month, some writing topics are given as a kind of non-compulsory "homework".  This month, I actually tackled one!  The topic for poetry was "New Times".  Here's my effort:

New Times

She sags against the pier her filthy robe

A mockery.

Too blear and dull to clean or wash or dress

Matted hair in lousy, rank disharmony

Her blackened fingers rhythmically harass

The stench fouled air.

She stinks of piss.

Pedestrians avert their eyes and skirt

Uneasily.

Discard a glance of pity or disgust

The city gleams with commerce, shines with industry

In this showcase of the prosperous, there’s no place

For such as her.

They’ll move her on.

Along the foreshore lights begin to glimmer,

Beckoning

The leisured and the young to come and play

Lover’s murmured voices drifting promises

To the twilight, not for them the close of day

Their universe

A world of hope.

Between the pylons, wakened to the darkness

Muttering

Her every sharpened sense alert and bared

She battles them again; again remembering.

With all her strength, defends, she sees them clear

Those torments past

That shroud her still.

                                                   Kerry Miller

 



Incidentally (or perhaps not so incidentally...) I was searching for an image for this post online, and found an Australian charity that provides sleeping swags for homeless people.  The image above is from their site.  If you are interested, find it at:  http://www.swags.org.au/index.html

Why I'm not Left or Right wing

Lately, I have been involved in a number of conversations that have touched on liberal, vs. conservative values.  The home I grew up in was fairly conservative (although my parents were thoughtful people, and didn't always tow the "party line"), but over the years, I have come to embrace ideas and values that would be seen as much more liberal or left wing.  Despite this, I'm not comfortable with the label.  I'm not exactly a fence-sitting moderate, either - but  I remember telling a friend years ago, that I felt "Left" and "Right" divisions in politics were kind of artificial - and not on the matrix I wanted to use.  I couldn't explain it better (& luckily, my friend didn't ask me to).  It keeps coming up, though, so I want to nut it out a bit more clearly.

I think we are all inclined to interpret Jesus according to our own values.  (Heck, we are inclined to interpret EVERYTHING that way!!)  I and plenty of others have often pointed out that Jesus was not exactly a moralistic, conservative fellow, in spite of the way he is often presented.  But was he really a kind of 1st century hippie radical freak??  Did he even fit anywhere on the Right/Left continuum??

Rhetoric

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceful, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.  
                                                                                            ~ James.

a beautiful striptease!

I took myself off to the movies, last night.  The local cinema is having an Italian film festival, which opened with a film starring Robert De Niro and Monica Bellucci; Manuale d'Amore (Manual of Love).  Watching beautiful Monica (Confession:  I am completely starstruck by her - she is a goddess!) and the one and only Robert De Niro together on screen - and  in Italian!!  Can't get much more romantic than that!  The movie was quite lovely, but one scene in particular took my breath away.

Divine Words

" All Scripture is God-breathed..."

                                                  St. Paul

I've been giving some thought to this, lately.

For most of my life I was taught, and accepted, that the Bible was "divinely inspired".  In my cultural tradition, this meant that every word in it was perfectly, literally accurate.  Six days to create the world.  Infallible history.  And every verse like a magic spell that could bend reality to fit the "correct" way of thinking about things.

I was even told that translation errors could not occur - because God was watching over His Word.  If just ONE verse turned out to be false, well then, you wouldn't be able to trust ANY of it!!  And woe betide anybody who dared twist it, or change even so much as a punctuation mark!

When you think about it - this has to produce a fearful kind of faith.  It implies that there is one

Family Stuff...

Every time I go to write a post like this, I wonder if I really should.  However, I've waved enough of my dirty laundry at the internet world already; my rants are there for all to see - and so, in my now well established tradition of being far too personal in public, I think it is time for an update on "the Big D".

The Last Post

HA!  You thought I was going to get all military or memorial, didn't you??

Actually, this really IS a continuation of my last post!

Truth is I was just going to add a comment - but the comment grew so I'm posting it separately.


Okay -  I've been mulling over examples of powerful, triumphant love that I've seen.

First to come to mind (and I didn't "see" this one - but it has gone down in history!) Is the example of Martin Luther King Jr, and those incredibly brave souls who stood with him and faced violence and hatred - took it on themselves without retaliating, and defeated it with love.  Their sacrifice is still reverberating throughout history. I think both he and Ghandi spring immediately to mind whenever there's talk of "nonviolent resistance" - but reflecting on the courage and sacrifice of individuals who stood up for love and freedom - and the incredible power of their actions - fills me with awe and reverence still.

A more prosaic example;  When I was growing up, a hyperactive, tearaway wild thing wreaking