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No Nukes – A Poet’s Theological Odyssey of Lament Regarding The Elimination of Nukes From Earth
By:
Joseph S. Spence, Sr. (Epulaeryu Master)
No Nukes is an awesome book of poems consisting of 66
pages with a glossary. This excellent book sets the stage
for the elimination of nuclear weapons from our world.
The book is divided into various sections: the
first contains narrative poems, the second songs of peace,
and the third a series of haiku poems.
Correspondingly, the two page glossary at the end
gives an explanation of the terms used in the text for
understanding of the reader.
In the beginning, Janet Brennan, aka J. B. Stillwater
certain placed a magical touch on this volume of poems
with the opening forward.
She sets the stage with language that is more
literal than figurative. Her opening presentation speaks
volume regarding this book being a Theological Odyssey with comparative analysis as in relation to
books with a “pie in the sky” theory. Her practical
and down to earth language capture the essence of this
book into a bubble of magical proportion blown by a breath
of love, not war; one which experiences joy like a child
who is free from such knowledge and experience of death.
This is the sort of magically, beaming, and traveling
bubbles of mere soap and water that captures our
attention. Naturally, peace is not supposed to be a
complicated process! These wonderful bubbles are destined
to burst in the sky while gracefully floating like the
song of the Warbler Bird, as articulated by Inazo Nitobe
in Bushido.
One day we will know that the nuclear armistice
race has ended, because of the love emanating and
radiating from these bursting bubbles of love, which
consumed the core essence of nuclear weapons and turn them
into one of peace, love and compassion.
It’s the ending we longed for where plowshares
will appear to plant food and feed the starving world,
instead of nuclear armament in response to the poet’s
lament.
Kumar
has certainly placed his stake in this volume. As a
result, the tension reflected in his poems regarding the
abolition of nukes has gradually increases like a
storyline. As
it rises there are actions taking on various forms going
back and forth during his lament.
As such, some of the actions end in defeat and
others victory. Naturally
a climax is reached, then a resolution; thereafter,
normalcy is achieved in the destruction of nuclear weapons
and the Earth is at rest with peace upon humankind; thus,
starvation, depravation, and disease—gone!
Reading
the first two sections of this volume, with such a process
in mind, makes this poetic text more understandable. Kumar’s
poetic lamentation reminds me of the Book
of Psalm in the Old Testament with the lamentation of
King David seeking the protection of God for his soul.
Unlike King David’s unilateral plea, Kumar’s
lamentation and plea to God is to save the world from a
nuclear strike, which would be very disastrous and
destructive everyone. Thus is plea is multinational,
multi-linguistically, culturally diverse, and cuts across
the spectrum of the world’s economies and boundaries.
The
knowledge of
Hiroshima
and
Nagasaki
are tumultuous remainders of war. Mary Jo Slater has
penned a most devastation poem on this subject entitled, Welcome
to Hiroshima as a remembrance of war and what an
atomic bomb is capable of doing; just image a nuclear
blast instead. What
a tragic devastation that would be upon this Earth and its
inhabitance. Hopefully, the song of the Warbler Bird
floating across God’s natural world should bring peace
to the hearts of many in due time.
Poets
with such visionary sense of perspective are like prophets
from God and a blessing upon the Earth.
God has created poets for a reason. Theirs words are like parables from Christ. Certainly, as God’s instruments of articulation
to the masses, they provide words of wisdom for many.
Read what Kumar states in his words:
And
a vision appeared to the poet in the night
The
vision of The Holy Spirit in the wild wood:
Beware
of the nightmare leading nowhere
And
bigot’s extremism claws:
The
only battle worth fighting is peace
Two
world wars
Already
in the third World War
Hounds
hungry again
Nuclear
war to come-
Fear
deeper than all other senses
Kabul
,
Kashmir
, Mid-east bleed
Chaos
infernal—will the lamb fall?
Melodious
notes of celestial madness
Kumar’s visionary interpretation is speaking to a
civilization that’s supposed to be more advanced than
others in the past. We
hope! However,
the curse of sinister weapons is knocking on our doors.
The monster’s hideous offspring are spinning in a
whirlpool of promiscuous fire, dark and incurable, moving
in tandem with nuclear arsenals across the globe. They are
in rage like nests of wild wasps just sprayed. How
advanced are we?
The
calling of raising hands to the heavens as Aaron, the
brother of Moses did while holding up Moses’ hands to
overcome their enemies in battle is not a mystery.
Seeing and experiencing peace is like the
manifestation of celestial moon and sun, golden
reincarnation, faith to convert ferocious devils, the
restoration of cosmic harmony, and the reviving winds and
rivers with God’s truth and grace is at hand, according
to voices. Kumar
has certainly drawn our attention to the height of the bar
we must now jump over.
His
visionary candle emanating light upon the world is to be
perceived with love and compassion for all humankind.
Take a moment and meditate on these uplifting,
inspiring, and reviving words of Kumar:
Jesus
never dies:
Christ
disarms the planet by mind’s
Terrorist
venom
The
sky is the emerald he wears
Truth
and compassion His rubies and diamonds
Strikes
the enemy not by violence
But
by changing his heart
Make
my parch’d dry soul sing
Hear
faith’s sacred music
And
dreams of Gandhi’s protest march:
Let
truth be your anchor
Non-violence
your deepest thought
This
is such an awesome volume of poem to read and meditate on
with joy. It
awakens the senses from sleeps and places on the mind of
the poet, the urgency that “now is not the time to lay
low.” (Lay low is translated to Lelo
in Tibetan, meaning
laziness as articulated by Sakyong Mipham in his National
Bestselling Book Turning
The Mind Into An Ally.) Meditation of the mind brings
peace internally; however, outwards manifestation of
internal peace brings joy to the world, and erases
violence from the hearts of humankind; thus, instilling a
warm and noble truth emanating from new light of grace
like the rainbow’s end.
Why
is it that the heathens rage? One would ask.
Kumar states the Buddha feeds on silence in his
wonderfully ending haiku poem.
Likewise, humankind should detach their minds from
worldly distress, and resort to silence internally like
the Buddha’s meditation, and as Christ praying in the
Garden
of
Gethsemane
.
Consequently,
the principle of Wabi-sabi has always been a grounded in
faith for humankind to return to God’s natural sources
for peace and enjoyment, instead of worldly greed.
This awesome Theological Odyssey is a must read for poets who are spreading the
mission of peace upon the face of the Earth, and for those
who would like to be a part of the process.
Kumar
ends this Theological
Odyssey with a glossary of terms for readers who are
not familiarly with certain words used in this volume,
thus shedding more light on the path to enlightenment.
Certainly, Kumar has enhanced the knowledge of mankind
regarding love and compassion for our world with the
articulation of his poetic words regarding, No
Nukes: A Brave New World of Beauty!
More
information on Dr. Santosh Kumar and his poetic works is
available at http://www.cyberwit.net/santosh.htm
___________________________________________________________
Joseph S. Spence,
Sr., is the co-author of two poetry books, A
Trilogy of Poetry, Prose and Thoughts for the Mind, Body
and Soul, and Trilogy Moments for the Mind, Body
and Soul. He invented the Epulaeryu
poetry form, which focuses on succulent dishes, drinks,
and cuisines. He is published in various forums,
including the World Haiku Association;
Milwaukee
Area
Technical
College
,
Phoenix
Magazine; Taj Mahal Review. He has appeared on
numerous radio talk shows and television programs
regarding poetry and prose. Joseph is a Goodwill
Ambassador for the state of
Arkansas
,
USA
, and is an adjunct faculty at
Milwaukee
Area
Technical
College
. He loves to see the sparkles in the eyes of his students
and a smile on their faces upon learning something new.
Website: www.trilogypoetry.com
or www.epulaeryu.org
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