Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

I drop a coin into the box
each time I come to church

says Mr Chipnop
and you follow him

along the side aisle
noticing he has a stain

on his pants
where he’d sat

in something green
and you want to tell him

but don’t and maybe
you think he’d

only be embarrassed
and what could he do

here anyway
and he goes in a pew

and sits then kneels
and closes his eyes.

You do likewise
only you peep

through the gap
between half closed lids

and see the dame in front
scratch her ass

and then position her scarf
and then join her hands together

to get into a prayer
or think of the dinner

she’d prepare
or maybe about sex

the night before
and then Mr Chipnop whispers

the dame in front’s a whore
I see her at nights

down town
doing the sidewalk crawl

and you nod as if you say
Oh right is that so

but really you don’t want to know
you want to think her

some stay at home mum
with kids at her skirt ends

pulling and yelling
for this or that

or maybe a dame
thinking of becoming a nun

dedicating her life to God
rising at some unholy hour

to offer up
breathing chill prayers

but he’s spoilt that now
that thought

that image blown wide
but still she’s one

of God’s daughters
you think

even if a little wild
and off the track

but He’ll come looking for her
and bring her back.