VIRUS

The infection must have begun

to manifest when I was only three.

Standing on the foot of my bed

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God

with all thy heart, with all thy soul,

and with all thy mind."

Mom smiled and stuck a gold star

next to the blue, red and green ones

on the hand-made chart she had

taped to the wall. That was the first

I remember earning and the last,

but it was already too late

I was terminal.

Maybe it’s genetic.

My Marine Corps father had trampled

some grapes of wrath on Iwo Jima,

a blond god at six-two he spent thirty

plus days in hell bringing salvation with

a carbine and telephone wire before he

took ill from something Mama said.

He probably would have even graduated

Bible College if he hadn’t made a little

more vintage on the chin of that self-righteous

dean of men and run off to marry my

elfin angel mom.

It must be genetic, both their parents had the

disease, pastoring holy-roller churches for years,

spread the word,

spread the disease,

they thought.

Dad had grown up fighting the poison

every way he knew, alcohol, tobacco, women,

and his fists to no avail. He lost the battle before

he even knew it was on.

So he too spread the word

spread the disease.

What chance did I have

standing in his bright shadow?

"For God so loved the world that

He gave his only begotten Son"

to infect us all despite the

vaccinations of

Baptists,

Catholics,

Presbyterians,

Pentecostals,

and the rest

who have forgotten

that the yoke of this disease

is easy, and the burden is light:

Love God,

Love your neighbor,

and that’s all,

a sweet virus.

I’m terminal.

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

I had the virus, too, until I started reading writers like Bart Ehrman. If the Garden of Eden story is mythical, what is it JC is supposed to save us from?

[wilmilller]

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[wilmilller]

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[bred Brick Keshner]

The is an exquisite mindedness and eloquent articulativeness bringing this poem forward on varying levels with the same intensity and momentum! 🙏🏻🕊

[INIQUITY]

All we need is love
And love is God.
That was a beautiful rendition.
Smooches.

[Vol]

Well, Hello, there Iniquity!
This was an assigned topic for a reading I n Nashville (I cant' believe it's over twenty years ago).
I sent a copy to my parents, I guess four years before my father died, and his reaction was "He has a beautiful mind" I think that was the only time in my life that he expressed pride in somewthing I had done... Don't get me werong, he loved me and even said so many times, but this really changed things for me. Made me realize that the one thing that really makes a difference to a guy, what we need to live a successful lie, is a father's mpridde....
Vol

[wilmilller]

https://psychedelicoshop.com/ : Mediterranean Depths, Psychedelic Heights