Dotty Armstrong
I Was Always Looking for Some Other Tree to Lean On
Though I am not a beauty
or possessed of a prize-winning personality
I have had many lovers
tears rolling, begging me to stay.
Apparently,
in my relationship bag of tricks
I carry a real talent for infatuation.
It is so easy for me to see
the goodness of heart,
the beauty of the body
when I hardly know someone.
I feel like I want to stay forever
but when fear whispers
I might be out the door tomorrow.
Near the end of my life now,
I have a wife who loves me.
She is smart as a whip
and we laugh together well.
I love her but as a human
she has her faults, as do I.
Am I too old
to learn the daily practice of ongoing love?
I hope not.
Maybe I should tell her
to lock the door.
Leon Petty
What is Prayer?
Maybe I am wrong
but I have found it hard to believe
that when any soul is rolled beneath
life’s weighty desperations
they do not turn to prayer
if even they pray into the air
Man’s short history is mostly spent
a slave to superstition
Superstition
embodying all we do not know
and science evolving
the emaciated body
of what we ken
So I am not surprised if man
is quick in times of tribulation
to paint his face
and dance around the fire
flapping in his animal skins
Who is to say
with beings great and small
that one might stoop to me
as I do taking a spider
out of the bathtub
A prudent man must honor
these possibilities
Personally,
I have no preference to the face of God
A bird, a bearded beast, a flying snake
I just need help
If God is great
he has no need of flattery
so prayer/schmeyer
I like to keep it to the begging