God, the Comma

[PrinceMyshkin]

God, if you think of it,
may be no more than a comma
in a long, convoluted statement
of the meaning of everything.

Or not the meaning, but the thing itself,
from which meaning
can neither be detached nor derived.

The comma separates
the principal from the subordinate clause,
that which was from that which will be.

It is the Sabbath of the sentence,
the pause between birth and breath.

[Alexander III]

I must say this is a very provoking and philosophical and yet beautifully written poem. I take my hat of to you PrinceMyshkin

[Virgil]

Brilliant!!! Wow. I think this is excellent.

[~Sophia~]

With luck, God, (in whatever way people choose to define him/her/it) is also the period at the end of the sentence. (Especially if it's a life sentence.) Great write Prince.

[PrinceMyshkin]

Many thanks, AlexanderIII, Virgil & Sophia.

[AuntShecky]

To some of us, God is a boldface exclamation point. To others, he's a huge question mark.

You may think the following is unrelated, but I think it is: I heard on Dylan Ratigan's show this morning that scientists have discovered that the conventional wisdom of "survival of the fittest" isn't really true. Instead, what seems to have insured human survival as a species is "survival of
the kindest," a "compassion" gene intrinsic to every person at birth.

Hmmm, I wonder where that kindness gene ultimately came from.

[Bar22do]

God, if I think of it, may be the starting point of the comma, where everything WAS IS and WILL BE or BECOMES, perpetually. There is a book, rather occult and so-called "spiritual" in which divinity if primarily Goodness, the reason for birth, the reason for breath... the Shabbat of the World. It is truely an amazing poem.

[hack]

To some of us, God is a boldface exclamation point. To others, he's a huge question mark.

You may not think the following is unrelated, but I think it is: I heard on Dylan Ratigan's show this morning that scientists have discovered that the conventional wisdom of "survival of the fittest" isn't really true. Instead, what seems to have insured human survival as a species is "survival of
the kindest," a "compassion" gene intrinsic to every person at birth.

Hmmm, I wonder where that kindness gene ultimately came from.

Auntie,
You wonder where it came from
I wonder where it went
And if it's truly there at all
Was it heaven sent?

There is a not so new hypothesis called the Grandmother Hypothesis. It speculates, among other things, that human culture grew out of the relatively long post-menopausal lifetimes of our grandmothers. The idea being that, older more experienced women in the home/workplace of early hunter-gatherers provided a competitive edge to those families. It is altogether possible that this phenomenon has a genetic (or epigenetic) component. I prefer to think of it as purely a function of love.
When I first read about this hypothesis, I was reminded of my own grandmother. When she would tuck us in or say goodbye she always left us with a single word, "soft". I never knew exactly what it meant, but I did know how it felt. I like to think that it was passed down along thousands of generations from our one shared great-grandmother, and that it was an admonition about how we should treat one another.
Hack
In an aside, unlike God I have some difficulty with my commas, but then, the universe does not hinge on it.
Good write, Sweet Prince, and "soft"

[firefangled]

A marvelous thought...and God paused and saw that it was good, and morning and evening were subordinate clauses of the sentence beginning...on the sixth day.

[Virgil]

Reading this again Prince, this is really a home run. If and when you cull together your finest into an opus, this has to be there.

[PrinceMyshkin]

To some of us, God is a boldface exclamation point. To others, he's a huge question mark.

You may not think the following is unrelated, but I think it is: I heard on Dylan Ratigan's show this morning that scientists have discovered that the conventional wisdom of "survival of the fittest" isn't really true. Instead, what seems to have insured human survival as a species is "survival of
the kindest," a "compassion" gene intrinsic to every person at birth.

Hmmm, I wonder where that kindness gene ultimately came from.

Wherever or whenever that "kindness gene" came from it has surely had a lot of other genes to contend with. I recently came across this magnificent opening line of Carolyn Kizer's "Election Day 1984"

Did you ever see someone coldcock a blind nun?

[hack]

Wherever or whenever that "kindness gene" came from it has surely had a lot of other genes to contend with. I recently came across this magnificent opening line of Carolyn Kizer's "Election Day 1984"

Did you ever see someone coldcock a blind nun?

I can't say I have ever witnessed that, but I did see a man trip a cripple for the amusement of an orphan one time. I consider that an extraordinary act of kindness.

[Buh4Bee]

Ugh, I thought I replied to this. Prince, you made me read it twice. I enjoyed pondering the notion of God as a comma.

[qimissung]

"It is the Sabbath of the sentence..." What a beautiful idea. The whole poem is extraordinary, Prince. I like all the things you write, but of them all, this is the one I would keep. And maybe I will.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I can't say I have ever witnessed that, but I did see a man trip a cripple for the amusement of an orphan one time. I consider that an extraordinary act of kindness.

Surely you mean this as some sort of very black humour?