The Elohoic Verses Book One '' Mythos of Elohim'': Variations on a Dream

By Patrick L. Lysons

What is a "mythos"?: a "story, speech, or song" that celebrates a sacred narrative. A mythos can be a play, a film, an opera, a narrative within a narrative; above all, a mythopoeic vehicle. A musical coda. A mythologem. A poem. A song that won't go away you hum on your way to somewhere else. Or simply a dream narrative where certain sacred themes repeat themselves throughout human history.

The poems in this first book of the Elohoic trilogy verses were written during a ten year period (1989-99)in rural areas throughout the American Southwest. The narrative begins with an invitation, an invocation, to step into "poetic light" and concludes with the seeming death of the poetic/philosopher persona; along the way, the persona encounters the character of Jesus and his opposite: the Maker of the World-Iaoldaboath-but the poetic character in the mythos haunts certain mystic types: the Lost Pilgrim "still stuck on Eckhart's prayer" encountering Dante in Purgatory; a lover, friend, priest, and shaman. In an enigmatic style, the brevity is as sharp as a Zen master's silence where existence is seen as a poetic experiment in negation, a mimetic deconstruction--thus,in the facing of death an acceptance of death; the stirring of another kind of experience and Being in heart and mind. The poems at times elevate a prophetic and hortatory Voice-its language firmly grounded in an ancient and sacred poetic tradition. But the poetry itself, as poetry, remains informed by an Other; inspired by Kierkegaard's essay "The God as Teacher and Savior" (from which the excerpt is quoted)the poems proceed in a loose narrative form. It tells the story of a poetic risk-taker who is near death from a mountain climbing accident. He is remembering a dream he dreamt at a point from which his life has already ended. That essential material--the emptying of the contents of the dream--becomes the "mythos" of the poetry.

Humphrey Bogart (as Sam Spade) best addresses the mysterious nature of the mythos in the last lines of the film "The Maltese Falcon". When asked "What is it?" Spade responds: "It's the stuff dreams are made of."

Note: The name "Elohim" honors the Elohoic tradition of poetry and songs found in the Bible whose Hebrew name took the form El-o-him (as one of the Names for God) in the Psalms, for example, and in Ecclesiastes, among 9 other books classified as "The Writings", including Proverbs.

For a list of literary sources alluded to in this book, please E-mail the author.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 13, 2000
• ISBN: 9781462837656

Patrick L. Lysons

Patrick Lysons holds a Master of Arts in English from Northern Arizona University. In this newly revised edition of The Reservoir -- the second book of his poetic trilogy -- an ancient concept springs to life in a grounded poetic lyricism– the metaphysics of inspiring landscapes pitted against time’s restless relentlessness.

Book preview

THE

ELOHOIC VERSES

BOOK ONE

MYTHOS OF ELOHIM

Patrick L. Lysons

Copyright © 1999 by Patrick L. Lysons.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

THE SUBTLE RHYTHMS OF THE PLAIN

TWENTY WAYS TO LOOK FROM A MOUNTAIN

SEEING FIRST THINGS FIRST

POETRY & A TRUTH

WAITING FOR SPRING

ALTERITIES OF THE TREES

BLUEBIRDS IN FLORIDA

MARCH SUN, WIND, & RAIN

HISTORY LESSONS

A PRISONER’S DREAM

GESTURES FROM THE WASTE LAND

( For T.S. Eliot)

DREAMTIME

PROFILE OF THE NIGHT

POVERTY

SYCAMORE CANYON PSALM

THE LIE

THE DEATH OF IOALDOBOATH

A SONG OF JESUS

THE MILKY WAY

THE WIND AT MIDNIGHT

DEVOTIONS

AUTUMN SUN

FORGETTING DANTE

THE MEDIATOR OF MEDITATION

LIGHTING CANDLES

A MODERN ECCLESIASTES

A CIVIL SIDE

…The poet’s task is to find a solution, a point of unity where there is in truth love’s understanding, where the god’s concern has overcome its pain, for this is the unfathomable love that is not satisfied with what the object of love might foolishly consider himself blissfully to have….

Johannes Climacus Philosophical Fragments

Søren Kierkegaard

Edited & Translated by Howard V Hong and Edna H. Hong

Princeton University Press Edition, page 28, 1985.

(Used with permission from the editors)

THE SUBTLE RHYTHMS OF THE PLAIN

Introductory

Now let serious work begin

Effortless in the effort writing

As if not writing, not struggling

Against that rich background

Completing the moments you gave

To complete yourself and be no more

Than echoes in the mind,