In the most exquisitely refined theologies
there is no need to name a god.
The category ‘divinity’ would be superfluous,
an addition that subtracts, distracting our affinity
from the innate attractive grandeur of the world.
κενοθεοφωνίa– god chatter diverts,
the old magician’s trick, diversion –
look up instead of looking down,
look in instead of looking out.
In a street in Montmartre, Paris below the Sacre Coeur
I witnessed a shell game. A man knelt with three cups
and a coin betting on bystanders’ baffled attention.
“Where’s the covered coin?” he asked those gathered.
The coin, my muddled friends, is under all three.
Everywhere you look there is a hidden coin.
κενοθεοφωνίa: (Greek) keno-theo-phonia ‘empty god talk’ – ‘chatting about god’ – a coined word
clichés, platitudes, banalities, sentimentality about god
‘keno’ = empty
‘theos’ = god
‘phonia’ = sound