To the Virgin Mary (Erotic poetry)

Pamtimaedias2001 said:

Magnetron, that wasn't just beautifully written but also conceptually sublime; thanks so much for adding that. You know, I felt very relieved by it, like you've had your heart in the right place when you wrote it. That just puts the poem I published to utter shame, a vile creation indeed, the Serpent is defeated by Mary, as always. Thanks for helping me realise this.

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Thanks for the compliment.

But don't be so hard on your poem. It is fun and positive in its own way. She's horny for Mary and not harming anyone. Just needs some minor tweaking to better define her relationship with Mary.

I don't think it makes for an appropriate polling centerpiece because of its dirty ditty shock value. This is bound to lead to skewed results leaning towards offensive/blasphemous.

In the end, I am going with poll option Interesting because I was drawn into the discussion far enough to debate and write a poem of my own.

p.s.

Here are some reactions to my poem from elsewhere.

Magnetron said:

p.s.

Here are some reactions to my poem from elsewhere.

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Well, now I can see where you're coming from, you don't quite like people who call attention to themselves by starting shocking threads, and more sympathetic I could not be. Thanks for the vote though, and for your participation too, debatting with you has indeed been interesting. Now regarding your poem and the way it has been received by others, I must admit the following, if it interests you to know:

I do mean it when I say that your heart was in the right place when you wrote this poem, because there seems to be no endeavour to attack, to offend or to injure, and that is also wise, especially insofar as it is always wise not to piss off the Deity, aka God. Such was not the case in the poem I've published, I'm sure of that, and that is why it was also more vulgar than it was elegant, and a lot more grotesque thn it was beautiful (incipit the quote of Oscar Wilde from before).
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However, and regarding your poem too, in my opinion there is a truth that must be considered for all divine things: that sexualising them is always the wrong way to go, as well as including them in sexual fantasies. This thread has made me realise that. As an artist, one is told -and one believes- that the freedom in artistic creation one means only to try new things, to distort concepts or reinvent them, to destroy constructs and rebuild them again by whim; nevertheless, I think perhaps knowing our task as poets goes before knowing our rights as poets.

Through the brief experience of this thread I've realised that sexualising a divine Icon, even if it's only a symbol to us, is only detrimental to ourselves, because the divinity remains divine in spite of us! And in the meantime we become mundane, and our poetry loses the lustre of truthfulness, except for our personal, subjective experience.

What I'm trying to say is that, in my opinion, we as poets have the task of exploring unchartered topics, but we mustn't forget that sticking to the truth is more important. I'm not saying you're a liar or that you've revealed to be untruthful through your work. Not in the least. What I'm saying is that as artists we also have the right to convey things as irrefutable and not relative, and to remember that not to be relative when it comes to truths won't make us any less artistic.

In my opinion, conceptual principal should be our top priority, and to live according to the way things are, and not the way in which we depict them to be in order to create. In this particular case, the truth is that the divine and the profane are irreconciliable opposites and that's that. We can write a poem that says otherwise, but that won't make it any less true.

That's not me speaking, that's Novalis, Hölderlin, Carlyle, Goethe, Fichte, Schelling. Call me a romantic, but that is what I believe underneath all this. Your poem is great; it has a high confessional value and an excellent conceptual force that strengthens it and makes it original; but do we really want to sexualise the sanctity of prayer now, something as truelly non-sexual as absolute truth itself?

"Look who's talking" you might tell me, afer I've sexualised the concept of the Virgin Mary in my previous poem, and you would be right. But I believe I was wrong in doing so, I have my ideals, and the poem I published two days ago was a betrayal of those ideals; it was a betrayal of the notion of the true Virgin Mary, of the pure, virginal non-sexual and holy; a betrayal of the truth.

Well, sorry for the ever-lasting comment. Good luck with your future poetic production! Best regards!

‘Soil my bed with indigo footprints, Dear Mary,
lay waste the grove of my sins
savage it with your petal-soft feet.

‘I take your feet in lotus hands, Dear Mary,
you have come so very very far.
Lay those gold flaring anklets across my bed.

‘Let yes yes flow from your mouth like from God above.
From your breasts, Dear Mary,
I draw off the confining-cloths so we are no longer separate.’
Now we are consummately as one.

adapted–from the Gitagovinda (xii.2, 3, 4) by Jayadeva

https://aditidevi.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/let-yes-yes-flow-from-your-mouth-like-amrita/

Juxtapostion of sensuous , erotica onto an Asexual icon

Mayflow said:

‘Soil my bed with indigo footprints, Dear Mary,
lay waste the grove of my sins
savage it with your petal-soft feet.

‘I take your feet in lotus hands, Dear Mary,
you have come so very very far.
Lay those gold flaring anklets across my bed.

‘Let yes yes flow from your mouth like from God above.
From your breasts, Dear Mary,
I draw off the confining-cloths so we are no longer separate.’
Now we are consummately as one.

adapted–from the Gitagovinda (xii.2, 3, 4) by Jayadeva

https://aditidevi.wordpress.com/2011/12/25/let-yes-yes-flow-from-your-mouth-like-amrita/

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Mayflow : you have basically Metamorphed Loving , Sensuous Radha the Consort / Energy / Shakti of Lord Sri Krishna into the asexual , Virginal Mother of Christ by utilizing Jayadeva's Immortal Lyrics & as a believing Hindu & a fellow Bengali [ Poet Jayadeva was a Bengali] I heartily approve of your experimentation : dunno' what is the Holy See's take on this but Attagirl !!!
---Ash9

Ashesh9 said:

Mayflow : you have basically Metamorphed Loving , Sensuous Radha the Consort / Energy / Shakti of Lord Sri Krishna into the asexual , Virginal Mother of Christ by utilizing Jayadeva's Immortal Lyrics & as a believing Hindu & a fellow Bengali [ Poet Jayadeva was a Bengali] I heartily approve of your experimentation : dunno' what is the Holy See's take on this but Attagirl !!!
---Ash9

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O my gosh, thank you for the appreciation. I don't know a whole lot about Hinduism, but I have read the Bhagavad Gita - what an amazing book! I am a total sucker for the artistry of the words and the deeper insights into the human condition as well as the massive workings of the mighty Universe. AND- WE ARE THAT! How freaking awesome is that?