Wednesday, May 20, 2009

[irresistible + revolution]

I've been reading Irresistible Revolution, by Shane Claiborne. It's very good, and I think you should read it. But seriously, call me or text or email or whatever, I would LUV to discuss what I like and really don't like about this book. Grace and peace,



[ 0.
I’ll step off
the edge of a precipice
into the unknown downward
spiral fall –
or into your arms,
because you can
walk on air too if you can
walk on water, right?
Both are expressions
of oxygen, or maybe
air and water both simply come
from your Breath.]

1.
Earth continues racing through
vacuum, daily revolutions
irresistible, revolutions annually
irresistible, turning,
turning.
Because revolutions always involve
turning, you taught me,
always begin with turning.
The first revolution I conspired in
was with my bicycle,
and the revolution got me a
blood painted aching forehead.
Revolutions always go this
way. But the bike revolution
was irresistible, and now I put
mountains under my rubber.

2.
You came and said “Metanoeite,”
Repent,” or more simply “Turn
around.” Maybe in your biography
it should be translated, “Revolution.”

3.
The blind and the crippled and the
deaf and the mute could not resist
you because they could not see your
body or stand to stop you or hear
you preaching or say you should
stop preaching. The prostitutes
and the tax collectors and the
Gentiles and the Samaritans and
poor and the widows could not
resist you because they finally
had someone on their side. The
Pharisees and the Sadducees
and the Governor and the Empire
and the crowd at Passover
could not resist you because
God is not God of the dead
but of the living, and you could
not stay dead. They could not
oppose you, and you became too
desirable to be resisted anyway.

4.
I am an ordinary radish, a root,
radix, radical. The root sucks
in water and life and nutrients
and keeps the whole plant
upright, alive. I am radical and
run back to the beginning
of the turning. I look like
my brothers and sisters, I am
not remarkable, I return to the
radix. Looking plain and
desiring to turn back to the root
and living
the simplicity of the Way…
can this be stopped? Can this be
preferred?

[5.
I’ll step off the edge
of a precipice into the unknown
downward spin, until I reach
a place I can turn the world
right side up.]

1 comment:

  1. I would enjoy discussing this book with you... What are your thoughts? Or possibly, when are you skyping with the rest of my suite?

    ~X

    ReplyDelete