[lit-ideas] Re: SUNDAY'S THURSDAY POEM

Really good. Take it from one whose vegetable soul is
not often open to poetry. O.K.


--- Mike Geary <atlas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> OUTSOURCING THE SELF
> 
> It was a Thursday,
> just like today,
> when God came calling,
> which surprised me
> because I thought he always went golfing
> on Thursdays
> when Club rules were relaxed.
> But there he was knocking on my door at 6 a.m.
> I was afraid it was the police wanting the library
> book
> "Sources of the Self" back
> and the five years of past due fines
> which I was uninclined to pay, not having read it
> yet.
> But no, thank God, it was just God.  
> "I'm God," he said, "can I come in?"
> I was so relieved.
> He sat on the sofa, I the chair.  
> He was searching for words, 
> running his fingers through his hair. 
> The silence was awkward.  
> "Would you like something to drink?"
> I asked.
> "Do you have any Chivas?"  he asked.
> "Uh, no."  I replied.
> "Never mind, just bring me some water, I'll change
> it," 
> he sighed.
> So I brought him two buckets full.  Best Chivas I've
> ever had.
> "I'm worried about how I know myself," he said at
> last.
> "How so?" I yawned.
> "All existence depends on how I know myself," he
> shouted out,
> either in emphasis or philosophical ardor,
> "Even my own.  Even my own," he ended softly. 
> "Your own what?" I asked humoring him since the
> Chivas was so good.
> "My own existence. I yam what I yam,"  he said, then
> chuckled.
> "Popeye had it right. I yam what I yam.
> And so are you," he said, "and all existence."
> But shouldn't God and the whole universe 
> be based on something more profound than Popeye?
> I ask you."
> "You've come to the wrong place," I said,
> "Philosophy's not my field."
> "Oh?  What's your field?" God asked.
> "Air Conditioning," I said.
> "That's cool," God said, "so tell me,"
> he continued, "how do you know yourself,
> who you truly are, that is?
> You're creating a world, too, you know.
> One no less real than mine,
> the world of yourself,
> and it effects, affects, infects
> many other worlds.
> How do you know
> how to go
> about all that?"
> I just do what I do because that's what I do,"
> I replied.
> A long moment of silence.
> "What time is it?"  He suddenly wanted to know.
> "6:09." I chimed.
> "Good, I can still make tee off time
> at St. Andrews.  
> Don't delay DeLay, as they say."
> and poof!  He was gone.
> Man, talk about your missed opportunities. 
> 
> Mike Geary
> Memphis
> 
> 
>  
> 


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