Audio: Read by the author.
Easter, I make myself space
in a pew facing a pillar
four feet wide, I’d say, gray,
mottled, plastered countenance,
and the woman squeezed
to my left worries I cannot see
the priest or chorus or babies
lined up for a blessing, late
as I am to celebrate
the empty tomb, while kids
here at Saint Francis climb
over my knees, in and out
against this stanchion,
as if I were the father, raising
them close among us
who see as best we can.
Robert Stewart’s latest books include Working Class: Poems (Stephen F. Austin State) and The Narrow Gate: Essays on Writing, Art & Values (Serving House). He is editor emeritus of New Letters magazine at the University of Missouri–Kansas City.
