Flowers like Leis Lying on an Altar
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem
The sculpture of a god whose powers are not
Apparent waits for you to pray to him.
Can he protect a baby in a cot?
If so, what offering, or incense, hymn
Or bowing is required to bring his stone
(Or lurid plastic arms) to intervene
And save the infant? Will a bribe or moan
~With fetching stockinged thigh presents a jewel
That hints at bed? Perhaps a proffered pearl
Would make divinity a tad less cruel.
Accretions of millennia might make
A Hindu god more like young Christ than snake.
~ Phillip Whidden
by phillipw | Mar 7, 2025 | IN |