W. Barrett Munn
Twelve steps to faith’s front door
gather forty geese
all waiting for the reading
of the master’s will, though none
will understand the piety
of the man-boy-priest who stands and waves
his magic-wand crucifix.
His incantation target is the long cold coffin,
while outside, arms askew, noisy honkers
huddle to talk above the steady drone
of the incense being burned beside the alter
beside the coffers for the poor.
Sounds are muffled by salvation
songs sung
in an ancient script. Sons of God,
sons of man, sons and sinners all
selected, grist for the Godly mill–
chaff and geese dispersed, ignored,
none pray or pay; none ever will.
W. Barrett Munn is a retired RN and a graduate of The Institute of Children’s Literature where he studied writing under Larry Callen. After a number of successes in the young readers markets, he turned to poetry for adults and his work has appeared in numerous literary sites and magazines, including Copperfield Review Quarterly, Volney Road Review, Speckled Trout Review, Book of Matches, New Verse News, and the most recent in Awakenings Review, while others are pending later this year. He lives and writes in Tulsa, Oklahoma.