an atheistic artful dodger (for emily d. et al.)

an atheistic artful dodger (for emily d. et al.)

 

 

you edit me 

with that infuriating doubt

my perseverance is a reluctant sinner

the confessional my essay's home

 

three Our Fathers and several pages later

you still haunt me with your insistent chiding

and brash banter that isolates my self-esteem

into a chaotic cell of interment

 

the writing's on the wall of my reflection

decisions ebbing over into small puddles

of incentive

at the brink of reversing momentum

i pen poems with renewed argument

of worth,

 

genuflect to some god of poetic idolatry 

and toss the source of my uncertain words

into an extinguishing vat of uhholy ink,

 

with a disdainful sign of the cross. 

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

4/15/2018

Reviews

[andrew mitchell]

I get the impression Emily Dickinson is the one you look up to and their is dissatisfaction that you compare your works to hers, but that can’t be right! Or write!! Your work is excellent, I’m just lost in the religious undertows.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your kind words, andrew.
j.

[Ana Papaya]

i'm not overly religious, not at all actually, but I come from a very religious family and when I read this I find it some deflating. it reminds me of all of the faults that were found in everything I did and that evils and hardships were just accepted as God's way and therefore no need to change for he may not want it that way.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for sharing how you relate to this piece, Ana.
i know that feeling...the faults intensified, the good traits often overlooked.
j.

[Ana Papaya]

You're welcome Jacob. :) So true, often overlooked.