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The Obscenity Prayer

The Obscenity Prayer

By Mary Karr b. 1955 Mary Karr

Our falter, whose art is Heavy,

Halloween be thy name.

Your kingdom’s numb

your children dumb on earth

moldy bread unleavened.

Give us this day our

wayward dead.

And give us our

asses as we forgive those

who ass against us.

And speed us not

into wimp nation

nor bequiver us

with needles, for thine

is the flimflam and the sour,

and the same fucking

story in leather

for never and ever.

Ah: gin.

NOTES: Read the Q&A with Mary Karr about this poem

Source: Poetry (December 2012).

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Poet Mary Karr b. 1955

POET’S REGION U.S., Southern

Subjects Religion, Faith & Doubt

Poetic Terms Free Verse