I hear John Lennon singing in the background

I hear John Lennon singing in the background

 

I am the busted savior

no real Jesus

or Martin

or Malcom

or some George Carlin poet wannabe

playing a Bishop

in a cheap satire

with no regard

for those who take their rosaries

quite seriously

on Sunday mornings

 

and then hate the people next door

as dinner conversation

torches their house

while the family

makes plans to attend the baptism

of a newborn

 

the sacraments are sacred

seven of them just like the seven deadly sins

opposites attract

then fit like perfect pieces of the jigsaw

 

but the scene looks wrong

the leader is slain

and doesn't know it

Jack is still talking to Jackie

even as his throat

spurts hate for his assassin

and then his brother Bobby

another busted savior

 

When the last temptation of Christ

leaves the movie screen

to become a real event

based on fiction

 

then what?

are we all in some way, busted saviors

 

maybe we should all hold hands 

and say Grace

might be the last words

we utter

 

as they bury us 

with our bibles unopened

in our grimy hands.

 

erin-cilberto

6/19/23

Reviews

[Andra Dare]

The juxtapositions and social commentary in this piece are fabulous. And that's the least of it. I'll steer clear of diving into existential or political musing, because I can't improve on what you've written. Nice.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

I appreciate you and your comments.
I never felt Lennon was saying he was more important than Jesus...it was just the way everyone was so nuts over the Beatles...and seemed their popularity had peeked...he was making an exaggerated comparison...but offended the lot of religious zealots.
thanks again, Andra.
j.

[Ayvid N]

I think we're all saviors and destroyers in some way. We help some and we harm some. The boundaries are fluid and religion is now failing abjectly to lend any definition to anything. Those rituals and and recognized figures are only raising deeper questions.

There are stunningly beautiful lines in this poem.

"I am the busted savior
no real Jesus
or Martin
or Malcom
or some George Carlin poet wannabe
playing a Bishop
in a cheap satire
with no regard
for those who take their rosaries
quite seriously
on Sunday mornings"

and

"as they bury us
with our bibles unopened
in our grimy hands."

That concluding line says everything about our relationship with religion. It's so good to read and feel, can't be articulated it in words.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you so much for your insights, Divya,
j.

[Nima.Hope]

John Lennon, is the martyr of media. They attacked him globally for his lack of respect toward Christ and I guess that may be the reason for many religious people to make his assassination reasonable. The religious prejudice, has killed many of the enlightened people of the world. The situation is better in the west compared to Islamic Radicals in Asia.
You mentioned a very important view of John's death that Nikos Kazantzakis somehow expressed it like you in his book. John himself was somehow crucified because of saying what many didn't like.
Wise and deep poem.👌

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your insightful words, Nima.
Oh, I don't think he ever thought himself a savior or equal to Christ...he made an exaggerated comparison based on the Beatles' popularity and got slammed for it.
thank you again,
j.

[Nima.Hope]

God bless him for he gave us the gift the collaboration between The Beatles. Without the Beatles, who knows how long would it take for music to change rapidly as it did in 1970's and 1960's.
You're welcome sir