Tag Archives: prayer

2025, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, the no-scape

the call sign is Jonah, lately of the great fish

all the songs this morning are rambling songs
has the profane algorithm found me
or is god speaking in the voice
of Ramblin’ Jack Elliot and Rosalie Sorrels

being just ‘stitious enough to consider the possibility 
the day may come when I do indeed start walking
until I someday fall and turn into a tree
like my friend Jeri once described to me -- I finished

fighting currents several miles back and here
I just want to lay my head in a comfortable place
the world is erasing itself and someday I’ll be sand too
but can’t I just hide in her arms and pass by this road

dear lord, why not
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2025, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, sonnet

Baptisms come wrapped in pvc, too

This Sunday, the prayer involves
hoping the kitchen sink repair holds;
being raised in a small town
of too many churches, I was taught
all divine petitions should be specific
especially those that involve plumbing.

Following scripture, I pray alone
knees on linoleum, head bowed
and in the cabinet as I wrestle this devil
of a P-trap. After all
heaven helps those who DIY — right?
The sermons are not clear on this point
but a 2nd pilgrimage to the hardware store
might offer the proper revelation.

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2024, Days, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, river life, the no-scape, Working Class Literature

Day 39, 2024

great gog’s eye above, o scimitar moon
answering a goodly man’s question
decades on these lines

are still always a prayer. here
making friends with shy shadows
back and forth on this wharf
walking in my still crooked way

ignoring the pre-trod paths
after the manner of the hermits

these words find your ear. always

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