My architecturally
undistinguished soul
languishes in strip mall
torpor Sunday night.
A stoplight, off-duty,
indifferently signals.
The hardware store mute
lighting reveals nothing,
no apparition among
the shelves.
Below stained glass
a disoriented priest
recently touched
by the surgeon’s knife
his amnesiac speech
slurred and slow
seeks language
as masonry
for empty hands
come together
in the posture of prayer.
Kevin Sweeney’s latest book is Imminent Tribulations from Moon Pie Press. His poems have appeared in Gargoyle, Main Street Rag, Nerve Cowboy, 5 AM, Wormwood Review, Pudding, Free Lunch, Big Hammer and others. He’s an assistant poetry editor for The Café Review for which he has done interviews with Kim Addonizio, Carl Dennis, Martin Espada, Margaret Randall, Gerald Locklin and others.