The Finch Pool

The folly of planning

The Finch Pool

The storm was a fact, but..
Later, after the fact, there was talk
Talk of God's larger plan
God planned the bird bath in my living room?
I wish He'd planned on bringing it through the door
Rather than the ceiling.
My father spoke of larger plans
The Big Picture, he called it.
On the ship, even on the landing craft, it was God's plan
On the beach?
Eisenhower's.
I have no plan at all
but to slake the thirst of birds.

Author's Note

Comments welcome

Reviews

[Lydia Shutter]

I think we all question the exitance of "G-d" at some point in our lives. You have done so showing respect and admiration for some spiritual being great than yourself. Then you mention Eisenhower....surely a reference to D-Day and the invasion of Normandy. The family dynamic is here as well. Very well written and definitely a poem with multiple layers to peel back. Lydi*

[Delmar Cooper]

I appreciate your comments and thank you for reading. Only the storm was real, as I intimated. The rest was story fitted to theme. My father crossed the channel on a vessel he built in Orange , Texas before he was drafted, but he crossed well after D Day and was being sent on a convoluted route to fight in Italy.

[albee]

vessel he built in Orange?
was he a mechanic?
followed his craft to the theater shores?

[Delmar Cooper]

Dad was an 18 year old apprentice blacksmith when he was drafted into the army and away from the shipyard of Consolidated Steel in Orange. He crossed the English Channel in a vessel he helped to build there then was trucked , marched, dragged? across Europe to the Italian Campaign which he joined as a replacement right after the fall of Rome.

[Dhara_Ditzy Kat]

We comfort ourselves by attributing things and events to external forces that shape our destiny. Its our need to rationalize things.
The plan to slake the birds' thirst is a simple and reasonable one. Anything,more elaborate is doubtful to succeed.
I enjoyed thinking on this poem.

[Delmar Cooper]

I am well please to have provoked a thought. It is more than I could have hoped and better than easy praise. Thanks for reading and your comment.

[Dhara_Ditzy Kat]

You're so welcome....!

[Jess]

I feel this line of questioning runs deep. People look for comfort in the idea that it is all part of something we do not yet understand. Very well done!

[Delmar Cooper]

Jess, thanks for reading and taking your time to let me know. You are right, at least I certainly feel that there is plenty that I do not understand.

[albee]

god's plan? is god a micromanager? is fate and all those random happenstance of energy-matter... accidental collisions of rapid particles, fires, storms, people colliding at war, butterflies whipping hurricanes , the cracking straw that breaks a dam lock, at a discrete point in time... deluge of happenstance?...or is it God that makes all those informed decision?

[Delmar Cooper]

"... is it God that makes all those informed decision?"
I know it was a rhetorical question, but I still don't know the answer.

[Relic]

Huge and terrible events often make us question Gods plan and also leaving us bewildered, wondering why it's happened but knowing there's no real answer you can understand, only hear about. That's pretty normal if you ask me.

[Delmar Cooper]

Nothing about God is normal to me a mere mortal. I just want not to be abnormal when it counts. Thank you so much for reading and letting me know . I am always thrilled to hear from a writer whose work I respect.

[albee]

"Noting about God is normal to me a mere mortal"
added it to my quote file

[Pete]

very good, deep write. it's always the unexpected that causes us to wonder, ponder and doubt. “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men. god gets the last word. as another writer on the site commented to me recently, faith isn't about holding on, it's about letting go. we all have our days of reckoning, our d-days ... :)

[Delmar Cooper]

Pete thanks so much for your gracious comment. I like the Burn's quote so often I feel very much like his wee mousie; better that than his louse I guess.

[barleygirl]

Your poem is decidedly "out there" . . . disparate concepts well-presented, but not easily linked into a cohesive point. In short, I don't know what point you're making, but I'm reminded of how, as I get old, so much nonsense appears to repeat itself over the decades, the folly of humans. You say -- the folly of planning -- but I read that to mean the folly of humans thinking we have ultimate control over situations which we really have no control over (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[Delmar Cooper]

" I don't know what point you're making" Yeah, I guess I'm a moving target ducking in and briefly out of foggy obscurity. Still in first grade as far as learning the basic writerly skills of clarity and communication. Thanks for reading and your cogent remarks.

[barleygirl]

Don't worry about it. After 30+ years of technical writing, I've worked hard to learn to be whimsical & mysterious instead of literal & logical.

[Will Harcourt]

I like this poem. You cover a lot of ground here and effectively combine philosophy with facts. Well written too!

[Emily B]

This is brilliant. Questioning God but with deference. If God had only let you know the birds needed water, you could have carried buckets and tubs. It is good to read you.

[Delmar Cooper]

Emily, thank you for your interesting interpretation. You are very nice to comment and I appreciate this.

[49k_jdys]

I really enjoyed this poem, especially the tone. It flows very well and is thought-provoking!

[Delmar Cooper]

I am much obliged for your kind words.