Seduced by grief and God
——our hearts labor at salvation
despite our honest efforts to resist
——& so we swear rebellion
to the passing angels——who drift
like misty anger among us—— because
hell (we knew all along) is any
frozen river of longing—— a hand
thrown up in fiat—— the carven wall
of principia—— absolute—— on which
we scrawl our doubts in blood
and tears—— all the transgressive
glades of eagerness across which headlights
sweep to bless the sweaty back seats
of our cars parked manifold
in the moonlight—— where the less
we know—— the more
we are cherished.
John Blair has published six books, most recently Playful Song Called Beautiful (Iowa). His seventh book, The Shape of Things to Come, will be published by Gival Press in 2023.
