Sutra submission - Ebo
Wed, 02/04/2008 - 15:04 — segun
Ebo
Choking choking
molten lead in my breast.
Each morning brings return.
I am a shell, alien
blood black in my stools.
My imaginary ancestors remind me
until I give myself to spirit I am bound
to repeat the rituals of fire & water.
In my belly, the ulcer burns
& my heart,
like a leaf twisting up from flames
or a spark crashing into dust,
turns away again
from love’s release
to face the night.
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Comments
ebo poem
I guess I am a slacker: what is a sutra (briefly!)? And what is ebo? In the last verse the' leaf twisting up form flames' and the 'spark crashing into dust' were lines that were dramatic, dangerous. I hankered after a twist of modernity - some noun, thing, sound whatever that connected the mood to the 21st century - would this be allowed in a sutra??
Thanx 4 yr comment Pete. Ebo
Thanx 4 yr comment Pete. Ebo is an ritual offering to ancestors or orishas. As I now understand it, this poem is not a sutra. From what Martin D says, sutras seem to be almost exclusively aphorisms with minimal time period markers. Given the fact that it is not a sutra, I may revise the poem including 20th or even 21st century elements ;-)