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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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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

This poem originally appeared in the December 2012 issue of Poetry magazine

• Q&A: Dana Levin
  by Dana Levin
• The Scarborough Grace
  by Michael Lista
• Libyan Proverbs
  by Eliza Griswold

• December 2012 Table of Contents
• Subscribe to Poetry magazine
• About Poetry magazine
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More about this poem

Biography

Poet and memoirist Mary Karr was born in 1955 and raised in Texas. The author of several critically acclaimed books of poetry, including Abacus (1987; reprinted 2007), The Devil’s Tour (1993), Viper Rum (2001), and Sinners Welcome (2006) she is also the author of a trilogy of memoirs: The Liar’s Club (1995), Cherry (2001), and Lit (2009). Karr’s poetry and prose frequently include autobiographical elements, including her . . .

Continue reading this biography

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Poems by Mary Karr

• A Perfect Mess
• All This and More
• County Fair
• Descending Theology: The Resurrection
• Disappointments of the Apocalypse

• More poems by Mary Karr (16 poems)
  • Disgraceland
  • Etching of the Plague Years
  • Field of Skulls
  • Limbo: Altered States
  • Loony Bin Basketball
  • Read These
  • Requiem for the New Year
  • Revelations in the Key of K
  • Suicide’s Note: An Annual
  • The Blessed Mother Complains to the Lord Her God on the Abundance of Brokenness She Receives
  • The Grand Miracle

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Poem Categorization

SUBJECT Religion, Faith & Doubt

POET’S REGION U.S., Southern

Poetic Terms Free Verse

If you disagree with this poem's categorization, make a suggestion.

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Related

Audio

• Poetry Off the Shelf: Be Kind While There's Time
• Poem of the Day: The Blessed Mother Complains to the Lord Her God on the Abundance of Brokenness
• Poem of the Day: Descending Theology: Christ Human
• Poem of the Day: Disgraceland
• The Poetry Magazine Podcast: Healing by Mistake
• Poem of the Day: Loony Bin Basketball
• Poetry Lectures: Mary Karr and Stuart Dybek
• Poem of the Day: The Obscenity Prayer
• Poem of the Day: Oratoria for the Unbecoming
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Articles

• Eight Takes: Clover, Karr, Gregg, O'Callaghan, Bricuth, Jones, Hirshfield, Heaney by Dan Chiasson
• Opening Up by Ruth Graham
• Q&A: Mary Karr by Mary Karr

Events

• Library Book Club
• Poetry Off the Shelf: Seeing Things
  Mary Karr

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