Morning Prayer God, it’s another day Blown past in a chilly squall Dried out by the bright sun’s ray, Unseen, but felt by each and all. Rev the engines; flip the bird. Another post-industrial box Flies paralyzed, not a word To speak but a palsied squawk. Forgive us these snotty thoughts And empty deeds, these firecrackers. Bring whispers, love, this fight fought In the nightmare of history unlacquered. Deliver this undiluted hate and see it Through to the self, the atrophied hands Of Felix Randal and Joe Plumber. Sit, Crucify aeon time, reduce to dry sands. God, dilate the days and chomp The bit; the sun dips and abyss again Grips what has been, crushes, stomps, What I decry. This prayer is answered.
Chase Padusniak is a PhD candidate in Princeton University’s English department, where he specializes in late medieval mystics like Julian of Norwich, Marguerite Porete, and Jan van Ruusbroec. He is an associate editor at Macrina Magazine; his poetry and prose have appeared in Soft Cartel, Church Life Journal, Comitatus, Augustinian Studies, Athwart, as well as the edited collectionSlavoj Žižek and Christianity (Routledge 2019), among other outlets. Twitter and Instagram: @ChasePadusniak
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