Sunday, August 15, 2010

Poem of the Week: "New Religion," by Bill Holm

I found this poem on the oh-so wonderful Writer's Almanac on Wednesday and quite liked it. It's a quiet little poem about an awfully big subject, and I love the idea it presents. I've always been more fond of water than air as an element (hence why I harshly judge the decision of Ariel in Disney's Little Mermaid), so the idea of heaven being underwater would be fantastic in my opinion. Enjoy!


New Religion, by Bill Holm

This morning no sound but the loud
breathing of the sea. Suppose that under
all that salt water lived the god
that humans have spent ten thousand years
trawling the heavens for.
We caught the wrong metaphor.
Real space is wet and underneath,
the church of shark and whale and cod.
The noise of those vast lungs
exhaling: the plain chanting of monkfish choirs.
Heaven's not up but down, and hell
is to evaporate in air. Salvation,
to drown and breathe
forever with the sea.

1 comment:

  1. I like that. I've always loved the ocean and just being in water. It would be a lovely idea :)

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