God-Fearing by Phillip Fried

God-fearing

He's the catastrophe we strive to cap
with ice-like hydrates, blowout preventer stacks.
Gushing spill in a world of scarcity.
Hemorrhage of energy, despite every
tourniquet of containment. Infinite spew.
Staunchless plume of animacules, the nimble
swimmers jostling in any cubic centimeter.
Plenty's horn, the topsy-turvy tornado.

We are engineers, contriving options,
tapping and funneling, drilling counter wells
that will never arrive at the infant Omnipotence
who rock-a-byes inside us, the purler that broke
the goat's horn.
North is stretched out over the empty
place. Earth hangs upon Nothing. Myth is irrevocable.

Phillip Fried

This poem is so enormous in complexity-yet it's so simple. It really reminded me of those question poems we wrote in class and the one she read us, "Questions We Have About God." I think what Fried is really asking here is why is God so complex, and more importantly, will he ever understand Him. This underlying question is hard to find, especially because the writing itself is so complex. In a way, that was how Fried asked his question. In his initial stanza, he wrote describing God using complicated imagery and truly beautiful language. This is where he asks why God is so hard to understand. He sees the destruction of the earth, the beauty of the earth, he sees all of God's creations but he does not understand. He cannot fathom God's purpose, his hand in everything. In his second stanza, he writes "We are engineers." We are the authors of our destiny is basically what he is saying. Fried is trying to understand the delicate balance of fate vs. free will. He wants to know if he has a hand in God's plan. His last two lines are his conclusion, and sadly those are the two lines that confuse me the most. I think he has concluded that there is beauty in insignificance. It is alright to question and not understand as long as we find beauty in the nothingness.

I have to explain this week's artwork! So... when I think of this poem the mosaic art really came to mind. I found a stain glass window that was just perfect. It looks so complex, yet really it is just made of tiny pieces. It's a symbol for the questions of the universe!