This Arrogant Pain (poem) by Danae Wilkin on AuthorsDen

This Arrogant Pain
by Danae Wilkin → (All Poetry by Danae Wilkin)
Rated "PG" by the Author.

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If we suffer together, can we mitigate our own suffering?

This arrogant pain As if I’m the only As if no one else knows Screeching emptiness Soundless black hole Darkening this planet Swallowing whole A tiny galaxy Or else crashing Into a neighbor We boast of our greatness Of our importance Of our uniqueness False prophets of simony Threaten to kill All in the name of God A warrior god Supreme god He lies in wait Doing nothing at all Or else torturing Living and dead What have we gained A scientific method In which they don’t “believe” And never will Only ancient books Written by conquerors Skewed by primal fears Curses and cruxes Voodoo and animism Taking animal life To slit throats and burn Offerings to this strange Being that never was Trying their best To heal But wounds are smeared With dung Bacteria? Unknown Everything Unknown Empirical information Denied, destroyed Flags burned East and West at war Over and over and over Combo of ignorance With amassed weapons To blow the Earth To hell, if there were one We are all viruses Accidents Escaped-cell DNA Our origins Dividing rapidly Eat or be eaten Seeking sun Soil Water Hot vents Multiply this cancer Limbic brain That wants only to submerge That empty feeling That always comes When we see the truth Our weakness Our insignificance But God, oh god Big Bang Uncaused cause Specks Of hope Bludgeoned Standing up A boxer with heart Claims his god Got him through As if care came in packages Released only to the deserving Team sports Stomach acid neutralizer Sex to make pleasurable Children of death’s destiny And so when I cry I know only human touch Only a way through This temporary existence Where supernatural Where magic Trumps the observed We are absurd I’ve known the ache Wants more Wants to find How this all This something Rather than nothing A curious mind Chemistry wonder All alone Crawling through brimstone Slipping on the lye That is our tomb Reach out Select your sky A Twitter page Is all you are Given up your power For something sought This wrenched heart Sucked out of chest cavity Relief I am no longer Suffering

Reviewed by m j hollingshead

Reviewed on June 7, 2014

thought provoking

Reviewed by Tao Chi

Reviewed on October 31, 2013

Wow, pretty powerful. I'm a believer, but still respect your opinion about God. But you are right that a lot of wars were in the name of "religion", but I'm not religious. I'm considered an outsider in this bible belt state. Heretic. Humans are earths cancer, religion is man's cancer. There is a difference between being spiritual and religious. There are many things I've gone through and yes, some have been to me, only by the Grace of God. Some would say I'm just a strong person. Well, some stuff would have drove someone completely insane. So yeah, I'd say I'm like the "Boxer". Awesome poem.

Reviewed by Michael True

Reviewed on October 21, 2013

your intricate connections weave a rickety bridge to cross, the promise, a hand held out from the opposite cliff. If we don't Twitter, dare we tempt such a fate? M.True

Reviewed by E Phillips

Reviewed on October 10, 2013

A very wrenching write
laced with original phrases
that bespeak a brilliant mind.
Superb!

Reviewed by Danae Wilkin

Reviewed on October 9, 2013

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful reviews. I appreciate it so much! It's so hard to know if one's personal worldview or internal ache is translatable to anyone else. But here I see you got it. We writers gotta stick together. :)

Reviewed by Ronald Hull

You have encapsulated the inglorious history of human existence with our conscience and sub conscience in control� out of control. You seem to suggest that the only way out is death. We probably do spend too much time learning (all the wrong things). And when we finally have made enough mistakes to be wise, we are suffering that long road leading to our demise.

Brilliantly written with cutting words that everyone who calls him or herself a �poet� should read and understand.

Ron

Reviewed by Budd Nelson

too bad so very true and deeply written
budd

Reviewed by Jerry Bolton

Gritty. Honest. Heartwarming and gut-wrenching. I feel every verse and every line. The world has been ripped apart with a kaleidoscope of beheading, child killings and complete disregard for any thought for humanity other than their own.

Reviewed by Odin odin@aflx.com

A work of both frightening irony and paradoxical hope. Stanza after stanza reads like street corner post-it board for the conscious. There are acid burned images as well as innocent warmth longing to be but acknowledged. Too few of us bare such personal convictions for fear of rejection, yet to "be" is all that is important.