The Clergy

The Clergy

Indifferent and bored, and on his collar

A little card says “Clergy”. Then the guard

Unlocks the door, and pompous fills his face,

The love of Jesus bursting from his heart,

And knowingly he walks onto the ward

To bring the life of Jesus to the souls

Of those that Jesus doesn't bother with.

A surrogate, a substitute for Jesus,

He sits and talks and I suppose he comforts

The eager crazy. I have no idea

What he said. I just noticed smug,

And depth – just like the sh-t they're sitting in.

10-27-13

 

Her

All her friends are good for is a f-ck

And their money. Sitting in the center

Of her web, fat and like a spider,

And her daughter greets you at the door

Palm up and arm extended. Is she crazy?

Or her daughter? This is academic.

They get on. And they are getting older.

And her prey is poor and crazy too.

She phones you when you're sick and says, “Send money.”

She's hated and she knows it. Everyone

In her family is hated too.

They know it. They don't care. That issue's settled.

They are legion, scattered around town

In dirty little roach-infested houses.

In Lyndon's Great Society. What Reagan

Indifferently called “the safety net”.

10-27-13

 

A Cat

Recipient of all my rage,

Repository of my hates,

A middle aged tuxedo cat

Who wishes to be loved.

I get the urge to pet him,

Partly sympathy, part guilt,

He twists and writhes and turns!

I want to throw him out the window!

Incessantly he's sitting on my

Hand or lap or rubbing

Up against my face. I pat

His butt. Sometimes he moves.

It's so sad. Pathetic!

Can't I change what I am feeling?
He is in a quandary.

I don't know what to do.

Damn you, god! With all the kinks

You put in human nature.

They sing a god of love. And I'll just

Say they are mistaken.

10-26-13

An Incident

I kissed a photograph of Keats

And said so in a poem.

She read it and she sneered. Then said

She'd never kissed a picture.

Is there anywhere on earth

It's possible to be?

That homophobes, republicans

And Christians don't befoul?

For reasons that bewilder me

Illegal immigrants

Want to settle in America.

Go home! Get out!

Go somewhere you are loved!

In this loathsome country,

Christians even hate even each other.

Republicans are at each other's throat.

This is no place to live if you're alive.

10-26-13

 

The Husband

He endured it years

With miserable complaint,

Using as in infancy

A self-imposed restraint.

Frequently he felt
He was about to faint.

Oftentimes he laughed.

Rigorous life chafed.

The nectar he had quaffed

Called youth was gone.

He got into his car

And drove not very far

To a cliff, the edge

Of a rocky ledge,

And breaking from a spell,

Looking at the sky,

Drove off. And as he fell,

He hollered, “I can cry!”

10-26-13

Helpless

When a friend is suffering

And he comes to you,

You hold him and you kiss him,

But there's nothing you can DO!

Should you let him weep?

Should you wipe his tears?

How to exorcise the ghosts

That aggravate his fears?

It isn't written down

In books or anywhere.

Love is not sufficient,

Nor simply to be there.

10-26-11