Four Poems

Practical Ecstasy

Part of me is anxious
‘cause of what I have to do
& part of me is angry
‘cause I know not what is true
& part of me is helpless
‘cause I can’t stand to be cruel
& all of me is desperate
but no part of me is blue

Prayer

Lord, make me the least extravagant hermit
Living in my nightmares and nowhere else--
Begging for exile from the species I stamped my seal of approval on
So bizarrely, so
naively

Controversy

controversy
is
the
thinking
man’s
acclaim

Shredded Faiths

Shredded faiths are shorn of meaning by words
With slogans taking the highest of tolls
Up to and including the well-being
Of the name one makes
When one commits to idolatry