Tag Archives: religion

2026, Day Book, Ohio River Valley Literature, poetry, the no-scape

I pray again that the earth will take itself

I hear a heavy truck on the street and dread that the onion grass has mechanized and is becoming aggressive.

It’s the day after Easter and I pray again that the earth will take itself back sooner and save me from yard work,

the way I remember, from when I was a kid, the End Timers praying for the bombs to fall
and justify their faith to the poor neighborhoods in town

where the couches burned when the basketball game went the wrong way.

[Daybook 2026 // Spring 4.6.26]

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Mick Parsons
Mick Parsons
@rivercitymick

Poet. Essayist. Fictioner. Steamboat fireman. Bit of a grackle.

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poetry

Armageddon was born in America (2 poems)

[Daybook 2026 // Winter 2.28.26 and 3.4.26

2.28.26 [On the news we started another war in the of God]

Woke up at 6 with the dogs, let them out and rummaged around for their breakfast,debating the finer points of wakefulness and coffee or more sleep. Scrolled the outside world and learned about the new war: one more conscription writ in blood to maintain an empire that was never meant to be. Let the dogs back in, gave them breakfast and fresh water. Climbed back in bed, because sleep and comfort are fleeting

when the bombs are flying.

3.4.26 [Notes from Baltimore on the second coming]

People forget Armageddon 
was born in America. It's in
all the stories, buried deep
waiting to rise again
when fervor needs whipping up.
There is no redemption in America
without a Tribulation and when
John Nelson Darby started singing
his Pre-Tribulation song, Joseph  Smith
was rubbing magic rocks
and dreaming of Utah 

around 30 years before the Civil War
when it was possible for a man 
to attend church Sunday day
and abuse slaves Sunday night 
and call it all the Kingdom of Heaven.

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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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