Holy Apostles School Choir, 1957 – a poem by Antoni Ooto

Holy Apostles School Choir, 1957

Learning life’s sad hymns
and Hail Marys

days were a catechism
of memorized answers

first on my knees then up again
like a holy yo-yo

Or…

Posed piously in polished brown tie-shoes,
standing and singing in starched vestments

under the high vault of God’s house.
As the choir began to wane, the nun said,

“You know…if you sing, it’s like praying twice.”
Really?

Amazed, I looked at my best friend Billy…
he just shrugged.

Antoni Ooto is a poet and flash fiction writer.  His works have been published in The Ginger Collect, Soft Cartel, Amethyst Review, Bangor Lit Journal, Nixes Mate Review, Pilcrow & Dagger, Red Eft Review, Ink Sweat & Tears, Young Ravens Literary Review, Front Porch Review, An Upstate of Mind and Palettes & Quills.