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Monday, September 6, 2010

Prayer for our Church at Guernica

Prayer for our Church at Guernica

On the slick edge of weather
we hit the wall
steering column crushes chest
pierces sternum

air bag deploys late 
abrading face
and snapping neck

children unbelted and unconscious
frozen askew
mucus like mildew forms at their nostrils
blood and lunch and feces pool in the seat

ghosts and souls hover,
not yet ready to leave

beneath the wreck they lick battery acid, 
brake fluid and antifreeze, or lie back on 
the hood like a coat of paint,
watching the autumn clouds roll in 
and the sun set

It looks like the planning commission and 
construction crew failed to properly deploy 
the blinking orange barrels and iridescent 
arrows marking the way

fines double in work zones
slow the hell down

Some say it's a failure of the anti-lock braking system.

As is so often the case these days - we blame it on it - 
the several levels of plausible deniability.
We blame it on IT - info tech - a typo in a line of code 
glued to a chip set - no one's fault.

Well, someone always takes the blame and the 
insurance company sends us the bill.

Whatever the case, we're on our own and 
bleeding out.

In the distance getting closer are the twin sirens 
of the attorneys and the conflict resolution team
followed by a busload of assholes and the 
medical examiner.

Dear God,

Bulldoze this stretch down to the granite,
scratch our names in shiny stone,
and make it rain the manna of fresh soil, seed 
and the perfect complement of
wind, sun and rain.

Amen


DLW
Labor Day 2010
4:04 a.m.

1 comment:

Crystal Wergin said...

Whew! What a poem! I really felt it. One of your best ever. :-) You go! Nice blog, btw!