some kind of prayer

there is a kind of prayer
crazier than most
dusted with black sugar
studded with hard knocks
soaked for hours in confessional brine
a prayer that eats false piety clean through
and drinks like a sailor on one last bender

these prayers were first written in the plague years
rode on the saddle horns of cavalry in civil wars
were breathed by the dozens on reservations and in camps
became stronger thru pogroms and holocaust
and glowed poison white when offered to the traditional god —

because you don’t pray like this
to just any god

this prayer reaches a god of gold cadillacs
a god of ptomaine diners and roundheeled hookers
a god of dropped balls and last chances
this crazy prayer
drags a true god kicking and screaming
into view
a god who loves the desperate
and allows the sword to once in a while
be mightier than the pen
the word
or mercy