The Ballad of Orange and Grape

[_honorentheos]

This poem reminds me of apologetics. Maybe even discussions of Mormonism and related topics in general.

The Ballad Of Orange And Grape
After you finish your work
after you do your day
after you've read your reading
after you've written your say--
you go down the street to the hot dog stand,
one block down and across the way.
On a blistering afternoon in East Harlem in the
twentieth century.
Most of the windows are boarded up,
the rats run out of a sack --
sticking out of the crummy garage
one shiny long Cadillac;
at the glass door of the drug-addiction center,
a man who'd like to break your back.
But here's a brown woman with a little girl dressed in
rose and pink, too.
Frankfurters frankfurters sizzle on the steel
where the hot-dog-man leans --
nothing else on the counter
but the usual two machines,
the grape one, empty, and the orange one, empty,
I face him in between.
A black boy comes along, looks at the hot dogs, goes on
walking.
I watch the man as he stands and pours
in the familiar shape
bright purple in the one marked ORANGE
orange in the one marked GRAPE,
the grape drink in the machine marked ORANGE
and orange drink in the GRAPE.
Just the one word large and clear, unmistakable, on
each machine.
I ask him : How can we go on reading
and make sense out of what we read? --
How can they write and believe what they're writing,
the young ones across the street,
while you go on pouring grape into ORANGE
and orange into the one marked GRAPE --?
(How are we going to believe what we read and we write
and we hear and we say and we do?)
He looks at the two machines and he smiles
and he shrugs and smiles and pours again.
It could be violence and nonviolence
it could be white and black women and men
it could be war and peace or any
binary system, love and hate, enemy, friend.
Yes and no, be and not-be, what we do and what we don't
do.
On a corner in East Harlem
garbage, reading, a deep smile, rape,
forgetfulness, a hot street of murder,
misery, withered hope,
a man keeps pouring grape into ORANGE
and orange into the one marked GRAPE,
pouring orange into GRAPE and grape into ORANGE
forever.


~ MURIEL RUKEYSER, (1973)

ETA: added link to youtube video reading by the author.

[_Kishkumen]

Cool poem. Great sentiment. I am in the mood to reflect on this.

[_honorentheos]

I'm glad you liked it, Kishkumen. It struck a cord with me as well.

I've been thinking about the binary systems it speaks of, as well as those evident on the board and elsewhere in the world. And I've wondered if I've often been guilty of mis-labeling the ones that matter myself?

There are wars worth fighting, but they are few and far between. Especially when the cost of war is understood, emotionally and physically. To me, the poem speaks about the labels and the contents of the labels. And, what do they mean really?

Perhaps it isn't about Mormon and non-Mormon, True and not True, or even right and wrong in some absolute sense? Maybe it's about ennobling and debasing? Is that a war worth the cost to fight? And can it be fought on any battlefield other than the internal - self against past self?

Be and not be? Do and did not do?

[_Kishkumen]

There are wars worth fighting, but they are few and far between. Especially when the cost of war is understood, emotionally and physically. To me, the poem speaks about the labels and the contents of the labels. And, what do they mean really?

Perhaps it isn't about Mormon and non-Mormon, True and not True, or even right and wrong in some absolute sense? Maybe it's about ennobling and debasing? Is that a war worth the cost to fight? And can it be fought on any battlefield other than the internal - self against past self?

Be and not be? Do and did not do?

I just don't know honorentheos. I wish I did.

[_moksha]

It's about time we had a song honoring the two Nehi brothers.

[_ludwigm]

It's about time we had a song honoring the two Nehi brothers.

Nehi? Have You a different translation of the plates?

I know Lehi and Nefi. Yes, in Hungarian Book of Mormon the name Nephi (pron.: /ˈniːfaɪ/ NEE-fy) is transliterated as Nefi. Hungarians pronounce it as "Nɛfɪ".

Similarly, Lehi (original pron.: /ˈliːhaɪ/ LEE-hy) is pronounced in Hungarian as "Lɛhɪ"

This way, these names are written differently, and/or pronounced differently, as well.

Logical translation, ehm...
Translation (c) "We believe in the agift of btongues"

( I've used IPA - International Phonetic Alphabet characters for pronounciation)


by the way the character string pron - copypasted from wiki - would be modified to porn, without my "size=99%" trick. Congratulations for the spell checker of THIS site!
("pronounced" and "pronounciation" pass the test...)

[_Kishkumen]

It's about time we had a song honoring the two Nehi brothers.

LOL!

Good one, moksha.

[_Blixa]

It's about time we had a song honoring the two Nehi brothers.

Nehi? Have You a different translation of the plates?

Moksha is referencing a well known brand of soda called "Nehi," ludwig. Grape and Orange Nehi are probably its best known flavors.



(It's an old, old brand, but it looks like its been recently revived if there is a "peach" flavor! That is new packaging too.)

[_Equality]

Moksha is referencing a well known brand of soda called "Nehi," ludwig. Grape and Orange Nehi are probably its best known flavors.



(It's an old, old brand, but it looks like its been recently revived if there is a "peach" flavor! That is new packaging too.)

Grape Nehi was Radar O'Reilly's favorite drink on M*A*S*H.

[_ludwigm]

Moksha is referencing a well known brand of soda called "Nehi," ludwig. Grape and Orange Nehi are probably its best known flavors.

OK, thank You.
Of 750 Hungarian proverbs:
A jó pap holtig tanul.
A good priest learns until his death. (and is dying as ignoramus - my addition...)


I don't think there is ONE Hungarian church member (or nonmember like me) who knows it. At least I didn't.

I showed this picture ("A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away....") :
[#img] http://img1.indafoto.hu/10/1/57091_6715 ... 2df4_m.jpg[img]

The translation specialties are exist...

niːfaɪ vs Nɛfɪ
liːhaɪ vs Lɛhɪ


As far as it is translated correctly...
And worldwide church...


Edited to add:
soda is Soda water, a natural potable mineral water with high concentration of sodium bicarbonate, often carbonated in Hungarian.
No more, no less. Other definitions are ... ehm ... american things, like playing football and touching the ball with hands.