Monday 25 June 2018

Nice and New and Smart (a prayer for reprieve)

by Nixi Schroeder


Our Father/ who art
            all strength/
                        and size, i am/

            small/ i am
                        bird/ i am
           
            peeled and boneless
                        grapewhite,
           
hallowed be thy/ fingernails/
            split ends/
            blisters/ God give me

            fingernails, give
                        calluses/ i need

to crack
            open/ to
            remove/

Lord/ i am
            not/ i am destringed/
                        i am/ so tired

give us this day/ Lord
            please give this one day

give us no:
wars/ droughts/ plagues/ shootings/ extinctions/ exterminations/ child graves 

give us whole buildings/ Our Lord of uncrushed glass, give us/
            full stomachs/ give/
                        honeybees, Lord/ of fallout/bless
            us the smallest/ God/
                        at least the bees/ at least
            chrysanthemums, God of foot soles/ of grey water, at least/
                       
this day/ Lord God/ just
            one day

no heaviness, no/
            vein-ache, no/
            soul-rubble

Please God, i am tired.

i am tired and
so small.



* * * * *

Nixi Schroeder is a teaching assistant and MA student of English at Truman State University. Her work has been featured by The Fem, Red Dashboard Press, Eyedrum Periodically, Sweet 16's not AR 15's, The Monitor, Everyday Poets, and Windfall Magazine, among other publications. She is also a former poetry reader for the Chariton Review.

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