Briefly, And In Flames by John Sweet

a week of luminous
grey skies and damp heat

a lifetime of inadequate saviors

starlings and grackles and
dingy laundry refusing to dry in
overrun back yards

are you still here?

are you still expecting mercy?

                                      absolution?

no one wants to know about love
when the house is on fire

no one cares about an indifferent god
but that’s all you’ve ever had,
                                                fucker

four walls and a door and your
life seen through dirty windows

the ruined bodies of nuns buried in
the sandy soil between
one starving country and the next and
how much could we get for
their bones?

who puts these prices on
human misery?

we have been lying to each other
for so long now that
anything less feels obscene

john sweet, b 1968, still numbered among the living. A believer in writing as catharsis. an optimistic pessimist. Opposed to all organized religion and political parties. Avoids zealots and social media whenever possible. His latest collections include BASTARD FAITH (2017 Scars Publications) and APPROXIMATE WILDERNESS (2016 Flutter Press). All pertinent facts about his life are buried somewhere in his writing. )