11 The Purity Of Snow, Of Flames, Of Love Poem by Saiom Shriver

POWDER

One cannot add
enough antibiotic
powder
to make safe
the coprophagous
clam's chowder

(* coprophagous: eating the
waste of other animals)

SEMAPHORE CLOUD

Tiny clouds
the sun reveil
and flowing on
do Him reveal

MASSED THUNDER

In the mountains...God has
massed his thunder
Your faith can break
the power asunder


NEVER ASK

Never ask a woman
if you can kiss her.
Without confidence
you have no right

IMMACULATE

Don't have a bathroom
so immaculate
a mechanic hesitates
to use it

GURU HEART

He did not need to
reduce his frequency
to give
the hundredth lambs
a handle by which
to grab his comet tail
.. he was all frequencies


MAGGOTY MEAT

Maggoty meat
they say..
as if a rotting
cadaver did
not automatically
generate the
garbage men and
women of God: worms..
as if ecoli ridden
(euphemism for colon bacteria)
meat was more
pure without
visible life

SHELLFISH

Never are shellfish
mean or selfish
Do you think it awful
that shellfish eat offal?
that those who eat
them get hepatitis
while those who eat
meat get arthritis?


http: //www.pcrm.org

CONTROL FREAK

She vacuumed her lawn
and killed many bugs
Nary a twig for the nest
of the new parents robin red breast
nary a spire on which
a butterfly might rest

**
(The Saint of Shirdi
says the tiniest cloud
can block the endless power
of the Sun as tiny imperfections
can block spiritual power)

http: //dontmow.blogspot.com

NADIA THE NAIAD

The water nymph
Nadia the naiad
slithered away wanting
no part of a triad

AVOID MARSHMALLOWS


In Mars hollows
they avoid
marshmallows
for they truth
purity and nonviolence
hallow.

CHIPMUNK PROTECTION

Cattails..3 in a row
twitch at the window..
at an outside chipmunk...

Until Isaiah causes
lions to lie down with
lambs
and cats to love chipmunks

the little one is shielded
from harm
by the window..
of his purity


WASHED

Used to water
trees and plants
the dirty glass
is also cleansed.

Love flowing through
to the loved
in addition washes
the lover.

EGALITARIANS

He knew that omnivores
do not eat omnis
.. and that egalitarians
do not eat eagles..
and anyway Eagleburger
is too high on the food chain

FINGERBOWL

As killers
erase the blood in a
carwash line

they asked for a fingerbowl
and linen napkins
to wash off fowl juice
after they dine

LAIRS AND DENS AND NESTS

We chanced upon.. a rat's nest..
so hated by museum curators..
a symbol for filth..
and yet how clean it was..
how fluffy.. made of little
bits of paper.. woven of
love for little ones

We chanced upon.. a crow's collection
.. full of broken shards
.. glittering glass..
but to him..
the world's premier jewelry

ARTIST

'Whether with opaque dusting
or clarified icing
snow is the fastest painter'
said one.. while
another said.. 'no...
Sunset Gold is faster'

CLOAK OF AMNESTY

the snow
universal amnesty's cloak
gives mercy to each willow
fir and oak

YOU ARE

purer than the flame
which plays on a wick
in a lacuna of oil
more peaceful than the lotus
which weaves on a stem
in a pond of water
more joyful than
the balloon whose string
dances in a sea of air

CLEANLINESS

'Cleanliness is next to Godliness'
called Martha from the kitchen
to Mary who was seated
by Jesus, as she heard his
words.

PORNOGRAPHY

What to do when adult
2 year olds scrawl
their foulsmelling waste
upon a wall?
Hose it down and watch
the cleansing waters fall


BERRY BRIARS

Plucking berries
out of briars
Barry did bury
the lapse with Breyer's