"Touch the Hem..."

Photo from DuckDuckGo images

"...They... besought Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment: 
and as many as touched were made perfectly whole." (Matthew 14:35-36) kjv

Touch the Hem

Broken, 

she sought the Truth

of whom she was supposed to be. 

She did not have the knowledge, 

so she searched for inspiration 

and found it not, 

for she was lost. 

Until... 

She touched the hem of His garment. 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

Decades à Rose

Decades à Rose

Quivering hands release

rose petal beads

from the deepest pocket

of an abandoned purse.

She traces the Sign:

forehead, heart,

left shoulder, right shoulder;

then gently touches the Crucifix

to her trembling lips.

Clutching each bead, lips pursed,

she whispers the prayers.

Words trickling off her tongue

mingle with questions:

Why? How? Where? When?

Perspiration

awakens the rose scent

by fingers slipping their way

around the chain to the final bead.

Then the one entitled, 

Prayer after... then Memorare.

She recalls most of that prayer.

"Thank you, Jesus, for listening.

Amen."

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

Bubbles

http://www.software-dungeon.co.uk/images/594_amazing-bubbles-3d-screensaver-640-1.jpg

         

         Level bubble from Duck-Duck-Go images

Bubbles

A bubble floats across warm seas,

or saunters back and forth 

in the boundaries of a level,

in sync with those other bubbles

recently settled.

Through their assembly,

each translucent sphere 

contributes structured eccentricity, 

globular bodies of air 

traveling through a liquid,

transforming chaos 

into serene resolve.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

Insouciance

Insouciance 

Feeling soucieux,
for the Bus has left without me,
I delve into the furthermost
reaches of a leather universe,
searching for a tissue to dry my tears,
lacking in certain finesse.

Soon, I touch something
soft, limp, fuzzy with appendages!
Ew, what has crawled into my purse?
Gingerly, I lift out the soft, limp,
fuzzy object by one of its appendages.

It stares at me with beady eyes
still, silent, smiling at me
insouciant as ever, James Joyce.
I rejoice... a friend!

What bus? 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

* insouciant or insouciance: nonchalant, unconcerned

* soucieux: worried, concerned 

Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan) and Self-Actualization

General concepts from my book: 

Sydney Owenson acknowledges the spiritual connection between humanity, nature, and God's law, a common theme occurring in Goethe’s works. In one of his conversations with Johann Peter Eckermann, he explains:

Freedom consists not in refusing to recognize anything above us, but in respecting something which is above us; for, by respecting it, we raise ourselves to it, and, by our very acknowledgment, prove that we bear within ourselves what is higher, and are worthy to be on a level with it. [1]

Owenson, then, incorporates the Romantic concept of God’s influence on humanity’s intellectual actions in conjunction with natural law while she introduces the reality of political and societal constraints through her characters' struggles with self-awareness. Through this conflict, Owenson personifies the dichotomous nature of glory in which her birth nation struggles with true autonomy and its native glór (voice) to be heard.

---

[1] Johann Goethe, quoted in Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann, translated by John Oxennford, edited by J.K. Moorhead (New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), p. 157.

Enough of an Artist... Thank you, Albert Einstein

When I was participating in the Poetry Bus poetry workshops, one of the members asked us to follow these directives: 

1:  Think of (or find) a sentence. 

2: Delete the second half of it. 

3: Think of as many different ways of finishing it was you can. 

4: Now, delete the first part of the sentence, leaving only a collection of "second halves". 

5: Play with these and compose a poem out of them. You'll probably want to mess about with   the grammar, leave bits out, put bits in, etc. Feel free. 

6: Post the poem.

I used a quote from Albert Einstein, and below is the result.

Photo of my window's view in Reims, France

I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. ~ Albert Einstein

I am Enough of an Artist...

To make my way through this airport

and appreciate the artistry

in each human utterance and smile

creative impulses within,

felt without

To hear music

in the laughter of children,

the voice of God

in the knowing timbre

of an elderly sigh

To feel this train race, passing French villes,

A phantasmagoria of anxious yearning

in the muted colors of graffiti 

blended with determined drops 

of spring rain

To enter a darkened hallway,

and know that the painful hole

bitten into my lip from fear

will heal, 

bleeding into fortitude

So, I taste the blended harvest

in a bowl of vegetable soup

and ready myself for another day

with cherished goodness

of a night’s rest

upon clean, white sheets.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

Mercy Otis Warren, Muse of the American Revolution, 1776

Painting of Mercy Otis Warren

Mercy Otis Warren, given the title by some historians of Muse of the American Revolution, is often neglected in the U.S. historical memory. However, her motivation for contributing numerous literary works on the subject of independence  demonstrates virtues found in the common individual while pointing out the discrepancies in a non-representational government. In her 1773 play, The Adulateur, Warren describes the issue of individual rights through the speech of her main character, Brutus:

The change how drear! The sullen ghost of bondage

Stalks full in view—already with her pinions,

She shades the affrighted land—the insulting soldiers

Tread down our choicest rights; while hoodwinked justice

Drops her scales, and totters from her basis.

Thus torn with nameless wounds, my bleeding country

Demands a tear – that tear I’ll freely give her. [1]

Using the rebellious poetic format of blank verse, Warren creates an image of the capture of justice, illustrating the conception that human beings might be inherently good, but their thirst for power could cause a diminishing of spiritual truth, thus leading to contrived allegiances to governments and other forms of false leadership. 

We thank such brave intelligent writers as Mercy Otis Warren for their insights regarding historical perspectives of justice. 

---

[1] Mercy Otis Warren, The Adulateur, Act I, Scene I, Boston: New Printing Office, 1773.

Two Hearts

Once, our poetry challenge was to write a wedding tribute. Since this week would've been my daughter's and son-in-law's anniversary had he not passed from physical illness as a result of working near burn pits in the middle east, I thought it would be appropriate to present this poem, which I've given to friends for special moments in their lives.

Photo: Dreamstime.com

Two Hearts

Two hearts entwine

through space and time,

sensing an epic in tandem,

each day to bring

a step toward a dream

of Love's

harmonic embrace.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

In Preparation for Life

Preparation for Life 

In preparation for this wonderful life

I wish to send to you 

a cup of gentle tidings

that will comfort through and through.

Remember your uniqueness,

that God's Blessings are in you,

and use those gifts to be the one

who uplifts humanity true. 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

Wintry Beauty: "Do...do...do...Lookin' out my back door..." (Creedence Clearwater Revival)

photo by Jeanne

As Mark Twain once remarked, " In Connecticut, if you don't like the weather today, wait until tomorrow." Well, as forecasted, we received our little bit of January snow. Today... So beautiful with the sun making its sporadic appearance throughout the day. 

Physics of Divine Love

Physics of Divine Love 

Harmony and illumination unconfined
by restrictions of the human mind 
impetuously flit throughout the universe
in joyful exhilaration. 

God's eye sees the vibrance.
God's ear hears the exuberance. 

God's hand touches the human heart. 

God's wisdom guides the human soul

to learn the truth of Divine Love. 

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me recite this verse, please click HERE.

Thomas Paine and Revolutionary Consciousness: A Lesson for Twenty-First Century Readers

Thomas Paine, Rights of Man (photos from Google images)

Thomas Paine differentiates between natural and civil rights of man, with the latter originating from the former. He interprets the aristocracy’s use of language as a means of establishing a sense of power. Relating the consciousness of the eighteenth-century mindset, Paine elucidates for his readers an emerging global consciousness in Rights of Man:

The progress of time and circumstances, which men assign to the accomplishment of great changes, is too mechanical to measure the force of the mind, and the rapidity of reflection, by which revolutions are generated:  All the old governments have received a shock from those that already appear, and which were once more improbable, and are a greater subject of wonder, than a general revolution in Europe would be now…. what we now see in the world, from the Revolutions of America and France, are a renovation of the natural order of things, a system of principles as universal as truth and existence of man, and combining moral with political happiness and national prosperity.

These fundamental beliefs authentically provide Paine's readership with contrasting attributes of the narrow vision present in governmental hierarchy in contrast with those belonging to humanity in general. A correlation between humanity and nature formed the consciousness of revolutionary thought, which eventually fed into the elaborate (and beautiful) artistic, musical, and literary expressions of Romanticism. 

Our politicians of the twenty-first century could do well to consider Mr. Paine's words. It's January 21, 2025. Are we on the brink of realizing free expression, found within the core of human creativity derived from Divine Love? Only time will tell...

President Trump Inauguration

President Donald John Trump is sworn into office...again

His motto: "Make America great again." 

Congratulations, President Trump! 

God Bless America, and God Bless you and yours. 

Photo of President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump

Photo from DuckDuckGo Images

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"

painting of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by William Rock, Chinese calligraphy by Huang Xiang

The significant "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is another illustration of iconic realism. From behind bars, King wrote this eloquent epistle, begun in the margins of discarded newspapers, then from a borrowed legal notepad. In this piece, he elaborately describes his educated and passionate belief in freedom of speech. Written in April, 1963, he had no access to a computer, nor spellcheck, yet his hand-written expression is clear, coherent, concise, and cohesive, utilizing classical rhetoric to elucidate for his audience the possibilities that could evolve from cultural reform.

Unfortunately, I can no longer post the entire document so that you can view the excellent rhetorical analysis of this letter, so I will only show you the first page below. It was downloaded from the following source: https://faculty.millikin.edu/~moconner/writing/king1a.html 

"Today if ye will hear His voice..."

"..Today if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts..." (Hebrews 3: 7-8)

I hear the song that the Heavenly Father sings.

His tones of everlasting Love and Peace 

reach my senses through songs of the birds,

early on this wintry day. 

Their strength and perseverance,

their feathered bodies, puffed from the frigid air, 

reveal joyful exuberance throughout the day.

Thus, through prayer, 

the Lord shows me Hope is always present: 

touchable, embraceable, palpable, making me able 

to move through this day 

humbly, energetically, thankfully 

in fulfillment of His promise.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

To hear me recite this verse, please click HERE.

Sydney Owenson, Intellectual Thought, and Positive Change

                                                                                                                 
From my book, Innovations in Rhetoric in the Writing of Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan, 1781-1859), pages 52-53: 

In her 1840 book, Woman and Her Master, Sydney Owenson makes the following observation:

As the acquirement of a physical elevation, in expanding the sphere of vision, and opening new and vast regions to the sense, obscures and diminishes the individual details comprehended in its grasp; so that intellectual and moral elevation, which has opened to the mind’s eye the wider fields of scientific research and of social combination, has caused the relative value of the smaller facts presented to its apprehension to be either overlooked, or mistaken. Society has become complicated more rapidly than philosophy and legislation can follow; the actions of man upon man, and those of the species upon nature, have multiplied faster than observation can co-ordinate, or reason control; until a positive advance has assumed the appearance of a relative retrogradation. (Woman and Her Master, p. 15)

The global network of intellectual thought feeds upon innovation within the consciousness of humanity. As one notion spirals to form a new idea, the resulting awareness creates new perspectives on issues not perceived within the current reality of some communities. Knowledge gained from sharing this new awareness provides more communities with intellectual capabilities to affect a positive change. 

Beoufed Up

Below is a poem I wrote a while ago after passing a farm and seeing the cows getting loaded onto a red cattle van. I was amazed to see the reaction of the cows across the street in the lower pasture, obviously distraught. On my next walk, I came across the farmer's wife, and she informed me that the cows were only on their way to their annual check up. Whew!!!

Beoufed Up

Brown cows loaded

into a red cattle van

One last bellow

to spare their ribs

Black cow shouts out

from the lower pasture

"Don't worry, Girlfriend!

I'll meat you on the other side."

This week, the 'girls' will be on the menu:

Porterhouse, Sirloin, Filet Mignon

"Medium Rare, au jus on the side, please."

I wonder,

as the restaurant patrons

pass the emptied pasture

in beefed up red sports cars

with their beoufed up selves,

will there be a longing?

© Jeanne I. Lakatos 

Heart and Consciousness

http://c2.api.ning.com/files/euULXEQgkJUGj1mAEzxJvFNLBjVEllILVGKtFKYHLMwbAtayRWlrIfNQpBtcLNH-D4aSS5qfcj-s-jNiaaK3NVc6GMSnitGu/AlexGrey_HeartConsciousness.jpg

In her book, Patriotic Sketches of Ireland, Sydney Owenson observes:

Political philosophy is an extension of the mind’s eye to the whole great scale of civil society, and demonstrating the close-linked dependencies of its remotest parts, affords to the benevolence of the human heart, and the comprehension of the human understanding, a social system, gratifying to the feelings of the one, and ennobling to the faculties of the other. (33)

The human heart and 'comprehension of understanding,' which I will identify as consciousness, are two distinct entities, for the heart, aside from its organic characteristics, contains the essence of human emotions. In contrast, comprehension of understanding involves the assimilation of intelligence and critical analysis as they interact with the psycho-physiological structure in a wondrous flow of human experience. I reflect on this concept in the following poem:

Flow I: Heart and Consciousness

Passion creates verve

whose song desires voice;

now boldly...sing,

radiate stillness,

encircle fear: enflame!

This fervor flows

with molten resonance,

gentle benevolence,

evolution through revolution,

illumined by 

the intricacy of simplicity, 

transformed 

through the interlacing.

© Jeanne I. Lakatos

Imre Madach's "The Tragedy of Man," Revolution and Knowledge

Photo: Illustration from website: http://www.wga.hu/html/z/zichy/index.html 

In The Tragedy of Man (1860), Hungarian playwright, Imre Madach, reveals the inherent spirit within humanity to resolve differences through knowledge. This play, consisting of fifteen scenes, depicts the first couple, Adam and Eve, in paradise whereby Eve questions the validity of the Lord’s request to deprive the couple of all knowledge. In her exchange with Lucifer in Scene II, she philosophizes:

Why should he punish? For if he hath fixed

The way that he would have us follow, so

He hath ordained it, that no sinful lure

Should draw us otherwhere; why hath he set

The path athwart a giddy yawning gulf

To doom us to destruction? If, likewise,

Sin hath a place in the eternal plan,

As storm amid the days of sunlit warmth,

Who would the angry storm more guilty deem

Than the life-giving brightness of the sun? (Scene II)

After leaving the garden of Eden for tasting of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, Adam and Eve fall asleep in their new home and experience a number of historical events to become aware of the many ways humanity has grown into self knowledge, beginning in Egypt, where the couple learn of personal glory. Adam then longs to learn of humanity’s struggle for the good of nation, through experiences in ancient Athens, Greece. They discover hedonism in ancient Rome, Christianity in the form of knighthood of the middle ages, where he also discovers medieval fanaticism. This leads to his search for sense in the sphere of Johannes Kepler. However, in the world of Emperor Rudolph, Adam moves on to the French Revolution, where he encounters the deceit of Danton and the ultimate failure in humankind’s ability to execute a lasting revolution. He becomes disenchanted with humanity at the London Fair. In the final scene, Eve tells Adam of the upcoming birth of their second child. She foreshadows:

If God so will, a second shall be born

In sorrow, who shall wash them both away

And bring upon this wide world, brotherhood.

Well, we all know what happened with that relationship, so Imre Madach, who places the burden of man’s struggle at the hands of the woman, also illustrates that humanity has within its grasp the ability to seize control over its destiny as the heavenly choir of angels sings:

…Yet in the glory of thy road,

Let not the thought thee blind

That what thou dost in praise of God

Is wrought of human mind.

Think not the Lord hath need of thee

His purpose to fulfill,

And thou receivest from Him grace,

If thou mayest work His will.

The Lord responds: O Man, strive on, strive on, have faith; and trust! (Scene XV)

Therefore, Imre Madach reveals, through the artistry of his writing, his intense belief that within its own consciousness, humanity has the ability to advance harmonic relevance from dissonant experience, for he presents Eve as the mother of humanity with the conviction that her children will move humanity forward in their quest for true knowledge. (Lakatos 2007)