Lenten Complaint – Scott Cairns

From his absolutely mandatory collection from last year, Idiot Psalms: The breakfast was adequate, the […]

David Zahl / 3.10.15

From his absolutely mandatory collection from last year, Idiot Psalms:

idiot-psalms-new-poemsThe breakfast was adequate, the fast
itself sub-par. We gluttons, having
modified our habits only somewhat
within the looming Lenten dark, failed
quite to shake our thick despair, an air
that clamped the heart, made moot the prayer.
As dim disciples having seen the light,
we supplied to it an unrelenting gloom.

Wipe your chin. I’m dying here
in Omaha, amid the flat, surrounded
by the beefy, land-locked generations,
the river, and the river’s rancid shore.

O what I wouldn’t give for a lifting,
cool salt breeze, a beach, a Labrador.

subscribe to the Mockingbird newsletter

COMMENTS


One response to “Lenten Complaint – Scott Cairns”

  1. Benjamin Self says:

    Perfect. God, I love poetry. So much said in so few words.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *