Member Poem

I.

wailing wall
the priest leans against
his own shadow

Enough of your wailing,
you’ve hit a brick wall--
losing ground to a priest

is painful when the priest
is a powerful beast. No wailing:
retreat, back against the wall.

Another Brick in the Wall--
I believe the priest
likes psychedelic rock: wailing

men, wailing guitars, women climbing the wall. Lord, this priest.

II.

peace talk
the third crow
of a rooster

O Christ, Prince of Peace,
Puzzling Paradox, you come to bring a
sword. Look away, there’s a rooster

on my shoulder, a rooster
that knows how to crow peace
without making peace with a

fig. It reminds me I’m a
coward. That annoying rooster
is a fowl born to rob me of my peace.

Disturbing the peace--that’s a rooster’s job.

III.

an ant eater digs
his tongue into a bunker...
war attack

With my flute, I attack
a musical phrase; an
emphasis, the tip of the tongue

forming a t or a d. The tongue
is a lazy member (it would rather attack
people than notes). To work an

embouchure is to work a lover, an
abandon and sweet effort, a tongue
to a nipple. A defensive attack,

a loving attack...an act of the tongue.

IV.

distant explosion--
the quick click of her
knitting needles

Falling asleep, I hear an explosion,
thunder-like. There’s no earthly storm, distant
or near, or traffic. I shouldn’t be quick

to conclude, aware that a quick
answer from God is rare. I long for that explosion
in my soul, a breathlessness. If He’s distant

I panic and apologize for being distant
first. What is this heavenly thunder? Quick
on the uptake I’m not. Explosion,

Divine Explosion, grant sleep in distant realms. Quick.

V.

war talk--
the two roosters eye
each other

For days, there’s no one to talk
to. I don’t mind yet I do. Got my eye
on someone. How would it be as two

again? A light bulb is for two,
they say. I’m afraid; I’d need to talk
to them, read the look in their eye.

Could they lie without batting an eye?
Could I learn to be one and also two?
Could we communicate, perhaps talk?

Talk to me. Don’t turn a blind eye. Or two.