From Aurelius To Aristotle Poem by gershon hepner

SUMMONING AURELIUS AND ARISTOTLE


Summoning Aurelius and Aristotle
I drink ideas of ancients from their bottle,
on salted cashews snacking snacking, and potato
chips, Republican applauding Plato,
while all the while I as a mocker tease
utopian concepts formed by Socrates.
While of Maimonides a bored brownnoser,
I tend to follow Benedict Spinoza,
who challenged him in mental combat, mano
a mano, with the mandate of Marrano.
From Kant to Heidegger and Wittgenstein
it's clear there's no philosophy of mine
that wasn't shaped by major predecessors,
interpreted so well by great professors.
Great thoughts do not reside in heaven, as
the Talmud has explained, and Levinas
agreed. We have to bring them down to earth,
with minds as open as canals of birth.
on which I sail within my ghetto,
my mind a gondola, not vaporetto.

Inspired by an article by Liel Leibovitz (ll80@nyu.edu) in Tablet,4/11/12, reconsidering Allan Bloom, the author of The Closing of the American Mind, immortally portrayed as Ravelstein in Saul Bellow's eponymous last book.

4/11/12 #9858