Saturday Morning Missionaries

they move in
on a Saturday
morning before noon
with their pamphlets
and bible ready
to dispense lessons
in guilt doubt
futility and death
all in one blow
as I reel
from each punch
to the soft
spot in back
of my soul
while they prattle
on in their
confident and commanding
manner rattling off
arcane questions Reinhart
Niebuhr couldn’t answer
attempting to entrap
and ensnare me
in a knot
of fear at
my weakest moment
with the question:
“If God is good
why is there
evil in the world”?
to which I reply
“To thicken the plot”

For A Bottle of Wine

years of study
practice earnest apprenticeship
dedicated to the quest
to be the best
given away for
a bottle of wine

preparation sacrifice dedication
performances trying circumstances
recompense credited to
“experience” given away for
a bottle of wine

endless nights riding
trains through barren
plains chasing pieces
of dreams that
vanished in a bottle of wine

critical abuse ignorance
anxiety fear and doubt
all failed to ignite
but for persistence
and given away
for a bottle of wine

trying circumstances testing
resolve of other's
inability to adapt
ignored but for
a bottle of wine

others won prizes
celebrated in faint
praise thinking one
day it would be I
gave it away for
a bottle of wine

time was kind
my way made
unswayed by errant
dreams and shallow
ideals keeping will
coping and enduring
without yielding to
fickle whim faithful
to the last
bottle of wine

what are dreams
but to be
squandered in
quest trial and
error testing the
best discarding the
rest to be
savored in the
last glass left
in a bottle of wine