This that fell from the stars
new poison in the reservoirs
drawing our eyes up and away
on walkabouts to find the fruiting tree
whose branches bear the flowers of new worlds
Or to sift through the fallen fruit of harvest
ripened by a dying sun on golden shores
and taste the bitter water of too long waiting
Each world a face with eyes turned to outer blackness
carved deep into the seeds that fell away
to wait in shadow and dream of sprouting
on a day when light breaks free from the grip of shadow
A fantasy of roots one day to drink from immortal springs
iron branches to reach out and grasp the void
and silken canopies to take hold of the stars
—
—
What’s the worst book you’ve read? Did you finish it?
—
—
Photo by Edgar Hernandez from Pexels
The Light is On 
9 responses to “The Fruiting Tree”
“Choosing God’s Best” (I don’t remember the author). It was given to me in my mid-20s by a friend (also male) after we were talking about how I was having trouble meeting Christian women. The book basically was the even more extreme version of that other book that was popular at the time saying that dating is un-Biblical. As soon as I got to the page that actually had a chart with what you’re allowed to do with your significant other at each stage of the relationship, I closed it and never opened it again. The chart had actual limits on the exact amount of time you can spend alone per week (I think it was 0 until you were engaged, then 2 1/2 hours after that). Kissing wasn’t allowed until your wedding day, and sex wasn’t allowed until six months later, to give you time to build emotional intimacy. Excuse me… if you had gone on dates like normal people, you’d already be emotionally intimate by the time you get married… SMH.
Funny thing is, I never actually got rid of the book. It’s still on my bookshelf, but I turned it pages side out so that no one would see that I actually have this book. No one has ever asked in 18ish years why I have a book backwards on my shelf.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow…. that’s a big yikes. I find it endlessly fascinating that so many people spend so much of their own time concerned with the sex lives of others. Like, someone actually felt it necessary to write a book about that? Funny that no one has asked about it yet! Could be an interesting conversation starter. Cheers!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Having been immersed in this kind of thinking for a long time, I feel like it really does not come from a fascination with the sex lives of others, although I can see how it appears that way to outsiders. The thinking is more along the lines of seeing all the problems in society caused by the breakdown of marriage and the family, and wanting to do something about it. This is not the way God intended things, and the people who wrote these books want to encourage people to put Biblical values first in their relationships. All that in and of itself is a good goal, one that I would agree with.
However, it also seemed to me that the target audience of these books were teens and young adults who came to faith after a period of promiscuity and still struggle with those desires. Jesus said if your right eye causes you to sin, cut it out and throw it away, meaning to avoid at all costs something that might take you away from following him, and this line of thinking is consistent with that. However, it is not necessarily all or nothing, and not everyone comes from that background of promiscuity. For someone like me, coming to faith after 19 years of being rejected by women and not knowing how to form healthy relationships in the first place, it just sent a lot of mixed messages and judgment.
The funny thing is, I mentioned the existence of another more well-known book on this topic which I don’t own (but also didn’t finish, for the same reason; I borrowed it from Taylor back in the day), and it was in the news last year that that author announced that he had renounced Christianity entirely. And that has been my problem… my views are somewhere in between. Most people (at least in my experience, especially today) who don’t live this extreme purity life just want to hurry up and go to bed with someone and ask questions later. There isn’t much of a place out there for someone like me with views somewhere in between.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I guess the question that needs to be asked is are those traditional values of love and family actually the best way of ensuring happiness and contentment in society? I certainly don’t have the answer! Overall happiness seems to me to be attainable for a society if each individual/group within that society is happy, so I usually come from the viewpoint that as long as people are not being hurt and everything is happening on a basis of trust and understanding, live and let live. I see where other beliefs come from (and I experienced those beliefs myself, being raised in a fairly devout family), I just don’t think that the religious dictates of one faith can be applied to society as a whole.
Interesting point about the different viewpoints that can converge on a work and lead to vastly different effects when applying its principles. Makes sense that there is no one size fits all, especially when it comes to a topic as broad as human sexuality!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good point, but one could also argue that happiness and contentment in society is not the ultimate goal. Jesus never promised happiness or contentment in this life.
LikeLike
I don’t recall the worst books I have ever read as they were not very memorable. I only remember the best books, like Lord of the Rings and The Count of Monte Cristo etc.
LikeLike
I don’t remember the author, but I think it was called “Invasion of the Giant Crabs”. It was awful, like a really bad B-movie in novel form. Basically a mutation occurs because of some toxic waste type stuff allowing crabs to grow into a giant size and making them extremely aggressive towards human beings. The author clearly had some issues with women because they were always killed in the most painful and excruciating ways. And to make it worse, the font changed into italics when describing the ‘horror’ of certain scenes.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh… oh no… that does sound like overall a pretty shit book 😂 reminds me of a movie I once watched (I watched the whole thing wondering when it would start to get better, it never did) called Splatter Beach. Pretty much the same premise but with these seaweed monster things that came out of the ocean.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember finishing it just to say that I had, it was terrible….. And the one I read was the sequel!
Splatter Beach? Sounds like some Troma movie from the 1980s. 😂
LikeLike