Sample of prayers
BLESS THE GLITCHES
Spirit:
Bless the careless gravity of devices that fly apart
revealing that they are put together.
Bless the bad manners of objects that fall,
revealing grace is a managed thing.
Bless the fitful resistance of machinery that quits,
revealing automatic is always temporary.
Bless the wounded morality of moving parts that don’t,
revealing entropy counts.
Bless the fierce evolution of processes that tangle,
revealing beginnings are not endings.
Bless the forgetfulness of hands that slip,
revealing intentions weigh less than a hummingbirds fart.
Bless the hesitations, the blunders, the slipups because
they remind us that the world has taken to the saddle poorly.
Bless our mistakes because they show us invisible connections.
bless the snags because they expose imperceptible attachments,
bless the bugs because they illuminate hidden links,
bless the glitches because they reveal the patterns of things.
PLEASE WAG THE DOG
Spirit:
Great literature puts food on the tables of very few,
great music feeds even fewer,
but even a mediocre whore house
allows many to slurp and gobble,
and grow fat graciously.
A great teacher is a hero to few,
a great poet to even fewer,
but even a mediocre quarterback
lets a horde exalt,
allows a multitude to cheer.
A philosopher enlightens a few,
a saint redeems even fewer,
but even a mediocre rap singer,
can lift up a nation,
spreads a dull light over crowds.
Spirit: The world will not be reformed,
it clings tight to its habits, rides its rut.
Good money won’t drive out bad.
Everyone wants to be better but,
yesterday’s good intentions do not survive today’s temptation.
Spirit, would it be too much to ask,
once to face the tail forward and wag the dog,
put your finger on the scale,
push down a bit.
Wag the dog once.
shift the balance a little.
PRAYER FOR AN INNOCENT VICE
Spirit:
Give us an innocent vice, an inoffensive vice,
something vile that smells like a rose,
a fun loving vice that burrows deep,
something fresh and new.
A vice that rots the guts but leaves the skin intact,
that will not frighten dogs or nuns,
a vice that will not lose its bite with age,
or bugger out when we get sick,
a sturdy, loyal vice that clings.
A vice that wisdom does not protect against,
nor intelligence, nor common sense,
a vice that temperance can not touch.
So corrosive that evangelicals
refuse to call it by name,
so powerful that everyone is tempted by it,
so gentle that virgins are not frightened by it,
an innocent vice.
After a while, it will become familiar, a habit.
People will discover it offends human nature.
Eventually, the politicians will make a law forbidding it,
but for now, it can keep us toasty warm on wintry nights.
Spirit, give us a gentle vice, an innocent vice,
a vice that smells like a rose,
a vice that loves fun and burrows deep,
something fresh and new.
A PRAYER FOR SEX
Spirit:
Pray for sex and pray for nature which gave us sex
to teach us about the world, about pleasure.
For sex is a pleasure, and good sex is pleasure,
and great sex is what pleasure is about. Hallelujah.
Pray for sex in every knobly variation,
which raises us up rudely and lays us down gently exhausted,
which, in its spare time, spins gold out of straw,
manufactures love. Hallelujah.
Pray for sex and pray for nature which is shrewd,
and babies, which are nature’s text for helping us make sense of sex,
as fat is nature’s lecture about food. Hallelujah and amen.
PRAYER FOR A LOST DAY
Spirit:
Dear spirit, the day has just begun.
Its clear even now it won’t be fun.
Filled to the brim with chaos already,
the faucets broken and the drip is steady;
the crap will flow until the day is done.
Lord hold me up and keep me straight
to face what the day dumps on my plate.
But if, before its done I die,
I guarantee I won’t ask why,
nor whine about an unjust fate.
Of course, I’d prefer for dying a day well spent,
smelling the flowers, relaxed, content,
not much to do and time to do it in:
a whole morning to sin,
a whole afternoon to repent.
PRAYER FOR A SAFE FLIGHT
Spirit:
Planes take off and land,
go up and come down,
and sometimes go astray,
drift off their flight paths, drop from the sky,
crash and people die.
Please not today.
Technology is fragile,
things tire of working, break,
go kaput at the wrong time,
Instruments that give directions say
down’s straight ahead,
leave people dead.
Please not today.
Fill this plane
with those impatient to arrive,
people with lovers and families waiting,
no madmen who pray
that falling from the skies
God will welcome them to paradise.
Please, not today.
The windows are too small to see,
anything but sky,
no one in any seat but one,
can see enough to fly.
Guide his hand, light the way.
Make the ground a soft berth
that welcomes us, whole, back to earth, today.