Romancing Our Age

A Litany to Excommunication (In Praise of Its Intended Purposes)

[Nail this down for our communities,
So they may offer it up:]

When Incarnation is lightninged into two-
Offer this up.
When incarnation is splintered and distilled-
Offer it up.
When existence is no longer a tangible love or even a word to pursue-
Offer it up.
When what was said kneels to what has been stilled,
to what has been said to be misunderstood-
Offer it up.

When roses become removed from their stems and petals-
Offer this up.
When flowers are called by any other (regardless) name-
Offer them up.
When all words become promissary notes and nickels-
Offer them up.
When they're repealed into hibernations and safe-
Offer them up.

When certain bubblings are rescued from laughing inaccuracies-
Offer all of this up.
When vulgar is blushed away,
When they are dredged up to be a cornerstone-
Offer all of this up.
When the seams of the human universe's vocal-cords clench upon themselves,
the astral expanses written in the heavens
ever tightening out rivets and soon-to-be-scissored excesses-
Offer all of this up.

When a man avoids staking his lot to any Ship,
who drowns in his vessel-of-flesh critiquing their drowning-
When the tolerated Interval becomes holy Reality,
what we see beholding what is that which we see-
When Meaning is wrung from the gleaning,
wrung and ringing any sweat from the bell-
When Virtue turns to Vice for advice, relative to the age,
asking Her shadow if shit or smoking is acceptable these days-
When all that is Seen and Unseen becomes what has Not,
When Light is seen to be lapse of the Dark-
It is then,
It is now:
There is nothing
to offer.


-Rick