Paradox 20

If this Light
is not good
the thought
is scrapped.


As Plurals (Paradox 3)

You have it but you don't have it.  —"Paradoxes and Oxymorons," John Ashbery

As plurals paradoxides,
paradoxen, paradoxes,
paradoxi and unaltered
paradox paraded past
paradise, puzzling Eve,

her hubby complained,
I hate trying to fix stuff,
placing phone calls and
squandering resources,
but when things break
I end up doing all three.

She said, I sympathize.
The country's not what
it was cracked up to be.

Piggybacking on a pair
of these conundri may
lift your mood enough
for you to loverboy me.

Adam agreed, a flame
in his dry eyes. He took
Sierpinski's gasket and
she the tower of Hanoi.


Paradox 10

God chose Abel
for aroma, Cain
for blood donor.


Paradox 11

Noe's ark
rode over
the shark.


Paradox 23

A man set to kill
his child
on God's command
accepts
the countermanding
of an angel.


Paradox 25

unbegotten
God adopts
a lineage to
call his own


Paradox 13

Reeds' fruit
brings locusts
on the land.


Paradox 14

The bush
in flames
can't stop
to explain.


Paradox 17

Monotheism made
disbelief as easy
as rolling off a log.


Paradox 12

What a sling
dared not do
the harp did.


Paradox 4

One conception
without sin
led to a second,
who chose
to die childless.


Paradox 8

Joseph built
an ash cradle
for his child
of snakewood
and willow.


Paradox 7

Wine from water,
loaves and fishes
from thin air, ink
from an octopus.


Paradox 15

The harlot
named just
one name.


Paradox 19

Perfect contrition
shrinks a camel
down to the size
of a needle's eye.


Paradox 6

He offers his
trickling blood
in satisfaction
for fishy debt.


Paradox 16

The sky
darkens
at dawn.


Paradox 9

Saul fell
off his high horse
and got up
more ambitious.


Paradox 21

One in Iberia
one in India
one in Ethiopia
one in Rome,

odd men set
on reshaping
the world in
honor of this

executed Jew
who they say
was unhappy
with the crypt

and was last
seen floating
skyward into
a pale cloud.


Paradox 2

Christ could descend right away,
end the world, Judgment Day,
the Second Coming, all of it,
but since He intends to give
us as much time to repent
as possible, He will wait
till the very last minute.


Paradox 24

Uncorrupted bodies will be raised
and we will see what we look like
outside the conversation of time.


Paradox 1

You must believe
before you die or
it won't be there
upon your arrival.


Paradox 5

Pilgrim's progress
is proportional to
the stubbornness
of his impediment


Paradox 18

If you think
Jesus isn't
listening to
a thing you
pray, target
your prayer
toward His
holy mother
who, if she
likes what
she hears,
will whisper
a version of
it in His ear;
sometimes
she slants
it a tiny bit
to make it
sound as if
you're just
a little nicer
than you are.


Paradox 22

almost jaundiced

feeling maximum
pain most clearly

an advanced state
best remediated by
a drip of pure folly

This one I muchly like:

Paradox 1

You must believe
before you die or
it won't be there
upon your arrival.


and this one:

Paradox 12

What a sling
dared not do
the harp did.

This one I am thinking about right now:

Paradox 17

Monotheism made
disbelief as easy
as rolling off a log.

and I'm looking forward to delving into t'others more

Paradox 11

Noe's ark
rode over
the shark.

haha. Paradox 1 has grown on me :)

glad to have your eyes on these, Peter and Mikael. thanks, Tom

..moving from Workshop to Submit..

Tom,  find these fascinating.  Some gems.  Not convinced that laying them all out together works. A smorgasbord is impressive at a distance but the nearer in the more it overwhelms, at least that's what it happens here.  Now if it were printed so my eyes could find links, find threads that might be different.  Or it there were some sense of an overall pattern (curiously denied by the "random" numbering) that might work...

As it is I just want 14 then 12 etc etc centred on a big plate with a sprig of thyme so I can relish the genuis of their creator.

k

thank you, Kevin, I too am not sure there's any point in grouping them in this medium and situation, where the tendency is to just read through quickly.
i kept the numbering in which i wrote them, but since they all touched on judeo christian religious lore, I sequenced them more or less chronologically through those scriptures, but reading them like that isn't necessarily that profitable either.
so...will see...appreciate your thoughts, they definitely help. tom