Ben Heller Week 1 Pick a Poet: Mona Arshi's "Dear Big Gods"

 

                                            
                                                   "Dear Big Gods"- by Mona Arshi

I chose Mona Arshi’s “Dear Big Gods” as my first poem. This poem explores the struggle all people who believe in a deity/deities feel. Through diction that seems belittling, Arshi describes this tenuous relationship pleading “all you have to do” and stating “we are so small” in comparison to these mammoth gods which we worship. This is a very relatable feeling, as often it seems like we’re so far removed from power, from being able to change our condition.

The idea of G-d in Abrahamic religion is an overarching, all-consuming concept. G-d is considered to be the creator of all things, the source of all life and all matter that exists. Often, when we find ourselves feeling hopeless or disconnected from others, we turn to religion. Religion offers a hope that one day, things will get better. In all Abrahamic religions, there is the concept of some type of Messiah, a messenger that will bring about a great war and/or bring about the salvation of all people (or just one specific people). Concepts like this can make people seem small, and when life beats you down over and over again, prayer can seem hopeless.

The poem broke my heart. She comes from the background of being a Human Rights lawyer, and she must have experienced and heard many stories about the hardships people face around the world, whether that be food insecurity, genocide, or persecution of a specific group of people. All we ask is for you to “show yourself a little” Arshi pleads, because maybe that is all we need to keep going. In moments of pain and despair, religion can pull us out, G-d can “touch the scribbled child in the inferno”. Do you think that, if there is a god, there requires concrete proof for belief?

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