deepundergroundpoetry.com
How to Feed a Warmonster
React to the warmonster with my trauma responses?
¿Inherited from past generations??
I goad it on to prove its strength.
Throw shreds of factoids between its jaws?
I jump into the bottomless pit of addiction.
Appease the warmonster by fighting fear?
I cook up hunger for more.
Fight the warmonster by nurturing fear in others?
¿Just to prove my point and win an argument??
I become complicit in the brutal business of War.
Flee the fear, ignore the warmonster?
¿Hope it will go away??
¿¿Fizzle out???
¿¿¿Become extinct????
Makes for a rotten legacy for future generations.
Feeding the warmonster requires
an-entirely-other way of thinking.
To feed the warmonster I cannot
ignore the call to recall Rilke’s dragons
~ those firebreathing beasts ~
who threaten to eat me alive
[as long as I feel scared
as long as I think in the old
grooves of the Anthropocene]
who morph into princesses
[the moment I act with courage
and love, the moment I allow
hidden, unknown doors of
perception to spring open]
and reveal the true essence of this magical equation:::
everything that frightens me = something helpless wants my love
¿Inherited from past generations??
I goad it on to prove its strength.
Throw shreds of factoids between its jaws?
I jump into the bottomless pit of addiction.
Appease the warmonster by fighting fear?
I cook up hunger for more.
Fight the warmonster by nurturing fear in others?
¿Just to prove my point and win an argument??
I become complicit in the brutal business of War.
Flee the fear, ignore the warmonster?
¿Hope it will go away??
¿¿Fizzle out???
¿¿¿Become extinct????
Makes for a rotten legacy for future generations.
Feeding the warmonster requires
an-entirely-other way of thinking.
To feed the warmonster I cannot
ignore the call to recall Rilke’s dragons
~ those firebreathing beasts ~
who threaten to eat me alive
[as long as I feel scared
as long as I think in the old
grooves of the Anthropocene]
who morph into princesses
[the moment I act with courage
and love, the moment I allow
hidden, unknown doors of
perception to spring open]
and reveal the true essence of this magical equation:::
everything that frightens me = something helpless wants my love
Published 2nd Nov 2023
Author's Note
inspired by (1) + (2)
(1) a passage by Bohemian poet Rainer Maria Rilke written in his Letters to a Young poet: “Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
(2) the ancient Chöd practice called "Feeding your Demons"
This poem was first published on https://www.symbiopaedia.com/wordcast/1525201_the-dying-language-of-war
(1) a passage by Bohemian poet Rainer Maria Rilke written in his Letters to a Young poet: “Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.”
(2) the ancient Chöd practice called "Feeding your Demons"
This poem was first published on https://www.symbiopaedia.com/wordcast/1525201_the-dying-language-of-war
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
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Commenting Preference:
The author encourages honest critique.
17th Nov 2023 3:50am
Dear V,
Warmonster. What an outstanding point of view and how changing tack to push past engaging that devil needs to happen. I am learning so much by reading these inspirations of Rilke. I’m positive I understand his work all the better for your interpretations. Awesome piece. H🌷
Warmonster. What an outstanding point of view and how changing tack to push past engaging that devil needs to happen. I am learning so much by reading these inspirations of Rilke. I’m positive I understand his work all the better for your interpretations. Awesome piece. H🌷
19th Nov 2023 12:36pm
Thank you so much H! 🙏🕊️
Interpreting poems and lines of thought of great poets who have gone before helps to deepen my understanding. Any ripple effects are a bonus.
𖦹*ੈ‧ 𓇼༄ ˚♡˚
Interpreting poems and lines of thought of great poets who have gone before helps to deepen my understanding. Any ripple effects are a bonus.
𖦹*ੈ‧ 𓇼༄ ˚♡˚
4th Dec 2023 5:19am
7th Dec 2023 5:00pm
