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<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Chris Norris<\/strong> presents a poem in honour of Ernesto Cardenal (1925 \u2013 2020)<\/em><\/p>\n Ernesto Cardenal, who died on March 1st this year, was a Nicaraguan poet, Marxist, Catholic priest and lifelong left activist who fought a protracted campaign against the more conservative wing of Catholic religious and social doctrine. When Pope John Paul visited Managua in 1993 Cardenal famously knelt before him on the runway but was rebuffed and told to mend his dissident ways.<\/p>\n His relations with Daniel Ortega\u2019s Sandinista government were strained in later years but Cardenal was active in the overthrow of Somoza, remained deeply committed to the revolution, and served for a time as Minister of Culture (a role John Paul placed high on the charge-sheet). His renegade status was only revoked and Cardenal\u2019s full priestly office restored in 2019 by the \u2018liberal\u2019 Pope Francis.<\/p>\n Cardenal\u2019s poetry always united the lyrical and passionate with the tough-minded and political, though it moved increasingly in the latter direction. At best it displays a Brechtian combination of factual, nitty-gritty, heartfelt social protest, and a gift for placing vividly evocative image and metaphor in the service of both poetic and political aims.<\/p>\n Capital and Christ’s message: for Ernesto Cardenal<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n With lowered head you met him, Pope John Paul. No chance you\u2019d hit it off, meet eye-to-eye. Your gospel call was \u2018give the hungry bread\u2019. Pie-in-the-sky, that other-worldly bit. \u2018Faith first\u2019, he said, \u2018else into sin you\u2019ll fall.\u2019 You\u2019d holy writ on which to testify. If they appal, those truths, then act instead! You nailed the lie that called their crimes legit. Too long in bed with hucksters great and small. Much better quit, you told the Fruit Corp guy. It\u2019s Capital whose curse we have to shed. We\u2019ll scan it by the Marxist lights you lit. Chris Norris presents a poem in honour of Ernesto Cardenal (1925 \u2013 2020) Ernesto Cardenal, who died on March 1st this year, was a Nicaraguan poet, Marxist,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":464,"featured_media":13232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1660],"tags":[2335],"class_list":["post-13233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-2","tag-ernesto-cardenal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gfdesign.co.uk\/culture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
With lowered head
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 but mind and heart held high:
His gospel darkest blue, yours deepest red.<\/p>\n
No chance you\u2019d hit
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 some middling path to tread
And reconcile that all-too-public split.<\/p>\n
Your gospel call
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 was: hear the poor man\u2019s cry
And feed the spirit when there\u2019s bread for all.<\/p>\n
Pie-in-the-sky
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 so long as faith played ball
With US firms that bled your people dry.<\/p>\n
\u2018Faith first\u2019, he said,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u2018and don\u2019t rush to apply
That social creed lest folk should be misled.\u2019<\/p>\n
You\u2019d holy writ
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 to back that creed and spread
Home-truths John Paul would shudder to admit.<\/p>\n
If they appal
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 (you challenged him) then why
Let faith erase that writing on the wall?<\/p>\n
You nailed the lie
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 that made weak brethren crawl
To those your poems urged they should defy.<\/p>\n
Too long in bed,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 his Church, with those who\u2019d pry
And fix elections when their strong-man fled.<\/p>\n
Much better quit
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 or have their assets bled
And crimes revealed with penalties to fit.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s Capital,
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 you wrote, that dares deny
Christ\u2019s message and have Paul revert to Saul.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll scan it by
\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 reviewing faith\u2019s long haul
With optics set to \u2018life before we die\u2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"