Arts and Humanities Commons^™

In Front Of The Black Sea, Matthew Batt

On Earth As It Is

Dear God,

Ali and Sema have a daughter!

It’s raining in St. Paul but

there was a spot right in front

of the Black Sea and I wasn’t going

to go—it was already almost three

and I thought I could just plow through

till dinner but then I saw the sign—

the sign! in the window! Ali and Sema

have a daughter!

Three Prayers, Melissa Broder

On Earth As It Is

Pennsylvania Prayer

Bless me I was once myself and couldn't read

a thermostat. My mother's breasts were long

inside her bathrobe. Sometimes we were Polish.

I believe god knows these things about me

so I needn’t say them with heart. I'm afraid

to say anything with heart.

Lord, Ken Baumann

On Earth As It Is

ConAgra, bread-keeper; save us from our misery.
The stores dried up, people float in and out as if in a dream, wandering empty aisles and pushing imagined carts, checking out their bounty, self-scanning.
May you please render us saved.
And the farmers in Portland and Studio City and Brooklyn, with their small hands and meager yields, their rooftop stalks, they have been taken and put up in cages.
Make them free.

How To Become A Prayer, Giancarlo Ditrapano

On Earth As It Is

Attention is the very essence of prayer. I am the bread of only my life. I look at prayers on the page. I read them and I lay my voice on top of the prayers. I drape them with my voice and make them mine. I put on my jacket and go out into the night to meet other prayers. I was nine when the Lord wasn’t watching over my family as I had prayed he would for all of those nights. The fuck, he smashed my brother’s car into a utility pole on a south Florida interstate, killing him …

An Open Letter Of Prayer To The Country Of Russia, Sean Carman

On Earth As It Is

Russia!

I know you only through your

quirky and enigmatic literature,

full of ranting underground lunatics,

characters who bustle and fly,

and noses that roam St. Petersburg.

Ecclesiastes Ii: Son Of The Philosopher, Bryan Furuness

On Earth As It Is

Some days I think the clouds are your eyes. Some days I think the birds are your voice. You laugh, chide, scatter thistle all over my lawn and screw up my grass as some kind of lesson I'll never understand because I don't speak bird.

Dear God, Kirsty Logan

On Earth As It Is

I call you god but you know I don't believe. I never have. well, maybe I did once, for a few months, when I was nine. remember that little book of bible stories, the one with the mustard-yellow cover and shiny red letters? of course you know. you know everything. or you would, if I believed.

A Prayer For Lack Of You, Kyle Minor

On Earth As It Is

When I was a child I feared all the Old Testament curses—dogs, frogs, being struck down by forked lightning? Which were Old Testament curses and which were the talk of the traveling preachers in their white suits and black slickback hair? Either way, it doesn't matter. One was You and the other was You. You let anyone who wants to speak for You speak for You, so what is left for the children of the world to do but see You in the ones who speak for You? If You are You, shame on You, for sparing those who speak …

A Statement From The Defense, Erin Mcgraw

On Earth As It Is

Because you promised to be with me even to the end of time. Because you told me to be still and know who you are. Because it was said you would lead me through the shadow of the valley of death and take away my fear, but I still have my fear. Because you promised me repose.

Something To Be Desired, Diana Joseph

On Earth As It Is

Maynard Prine of Reynold's Creek, West Virginia was fierce in his faith, an obedient servant of You, Lord, Your miracles, Your Mysterious Ways. It was Your mandate that my father take up the serpent, that he handle the flame. This man was not afraid.

Prayer For Amniocentesis, David Mcglynn

On Earth As It Is

We have been debating names for weeks, but now we choose one, Hayden, aware it’s a name we might have to bury. I sit on the edge of the bed and think about the vial of amniotic fluid—Katherine’s water—traveling by van to the lab in Milwaukee. I think of its soft amber color, its protective viscosity, its blizzard of DNA, the helix of Hayden’s existence a braid of Katherine’s alleles and mine.

For A Recently Discovered Shipwreck At The Bottom Of Lake Michigan, Matthew Olzmann

On Earth As It Is

4/2/2010

Dear Shipwreck,

Even though you’re over a century old, they say that everything inside you is still intact. Even the crew? Must be lonely. I’ll write again.

Prayer, Adam Robinson

On Earth As It Is

God,

nothing inspires fear in me like swallowing an apple seed. What if there are worms in the fruit that rises up from my belly? Worms freak me out.

But you know I love trees, God. Your creation is really magnificent.

Decomposing Articles Of Faith, Melissa Pritchard

On Earth As It Is

In which Sister Pritchard, Scribbler Pritchard, Goody Pritchard holds forth:

Praise God

That God both does and does not uphold our Neighborhood Watch.

That God both is and is not a projection of our innermost desires and fears.

That God is a handyman, our prayers to Him a honey-do.

"I Never Ask", Matthew Specktor

On Earth As It Is

What do you want from me? Where should I go? What am I waiting for? What’s your name? What about the other guy? How ‘bout those people I don’t know? Help that ugly girl, the guy who cut me off in traffic, the woman with the bad breath, those Craigslisters, the people who can’t spell. Help the Un-readers, O Lord, the people with Kindles, the Amazon shoppers, those folks who send too many Tweets. Bless the Status Updaters, who bore me, the breakfast-detailers and candid photographers, the ones with the burpy babies, the dying fish, the new puppies, the Ecstatics. …

Secret Oxygen, Kim Thomas

On Earth As It Is

The firemen access our building invisibly. I thought they would stop coming because you summoned strength against them. I’m sure the firemen have instructions for seizures. Kept in a red tool chest. Explicitly labeled help. I’m sure others, like you, ask them to leave. I understand this fear of judgment, yet it is not enough.

The Miracle: Lullaby For Lost Children, Melanie Rae Thon

On Earth As It Is

Pink pyrola, trailing daisy—magenta flames of shooting stars, brilliant gold of glacier lilies.

Hush now, beloved.

The hummingbird comes to sip from foxglove and Sweet William, drinks from the hollyhock, opens the snapdragon.

Why are you afraid?

Hello, Brain, It's Me, Ray Vukcevich

On Earth As It Is

Hello, 90% of my brain which is totally, or at least mostly, inaccessible to consciousness, this is the part of us that thinks of itself as “Ray Vukcevich” although sometimes we suspect that part is really “Henry.” Would people have called him “Hank” if things had developed a little differently? What I’m wondering about today is Time. It's a subject that seems so simple at first but is not at all simple and probably has a lot to do with Everything. I’d like to run it by you. I hope you will have ideas. I hope you will tell me …

Transubstance, Nicole Walker

On Earth As It Is

The word morph sounds so soft but there is

tugging and there is pulling. The unsticking of legs

from the threads breaks any thoughts of grace.