prayer...

rapid shutters roll…
staccato march on the flatland
stilled as careless mouths ingest a corruption…
accusations in gray waves roll over and over…
miscegenation of colds, of hots
breeding unbearable off spring that bite and gnash
tearing delicate tissues…
as hunger propels the meandering herd…
they rip the practiced posture with a jagged, careless tear…

i must slow the light…
cannot the world conceive me?
i heed the knotted
rope, elusive but eternal…
i am your offspring, too…
will i quit the world like you
after one agonizing birth?
will this gray matter splatter in one
tortuous burst?…will my love fail again
and again to move?
must i bear this unwanted seed forever?
for daring to pass this contagion in me…

a heat in coldness…an endless cord snipped,
bleeding—running dry…
how much must i absorb before it is enough?
how tightly must i press…
not a syllable escaping…
it must not spread…
when i am silent and drained…
may i rest in peace…
mother mary?

prayer...soliloquies
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