this old earth grabs at the legs
like a desperate lover unwilling to let go
black fingers of clay wrap tendril tight
till walking is a weighty work that exhausts
the gravity of the selfish grave taking back,
always taking back that which was taken
but lavish light pours forth upon new flesh
while buoyant spirit encased within takes flight
lifting up the one pulled perilously down
till man is but a rope in this celestial tug of war
while Heaven hauls hard against Hell’s claws
body’s memory – a cold encasing womb of dirt
rails ‘gainst heart’s future hope of forever free air
endless is the walk between Gaea and Ouranos
it is life on the zombie horizon….
not quite dead but not quite alive
save for the voice that whispers in dreams
“I am coming for you to carry your bones to eternal shores…”
Harnessing Chaos 
I am seeing something here in third stanza that echoes the emptiness of the virtual Brave New World that I am seeing in your “Medium is the Message” post:
lavish light pours forth upon new flesh
while buoyant spirit encased within takes flight
lifting up the one pulled perilously down
till man is but a rope in this celestial tug of war
while Heaven hauls hard against Hell’s claws
body’s memory – a cold encasing womb of dirt
rails ‘gainst heart’s future hope of forever free air
Putting John Savage into the Brave New World is something like trying to graft a living leaf onto a virtual tree. The tree looks real but it has no root and no ecosystem. The leaf is going to die and feels its death like the man who is ‘but a rope [a] celestial tug of war.’ It feels the light of the sun but cannot do what it is supposed to do for the virtual tree because it isn’t real. Something actual has been substituted with something virtual.
Oedipus is another image that I have been thinking about lately. A man, like John Savage, who is honest but caught in a tug of war among the gods. He tries to be real in an unreal world.
And this is where the ‘word made flesh’ truly becomes a gospel: God becomes a ‘root in dry ground’ who is a true vine. One of the prophets said it like this: ‘gather the lame and I will make a remnant.’ Jesus takes the rejected stones (John Savage, Oedipus) and makes a temple.
And back to my question: What does a person do when he realize that community has become virtual? He looks for others who believe in the true vine. He holds onto the word in spite of the blazing sun of hardship. He bears fruit so that others might know that there is reality in a virtual world. That which is felt so deeply in Oedipus and John Savage is realized in the community that is sustained by the spirit of God.
I am struggling to convey something that is beyond words but almost bursting inside of me.
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