soaked in festive foreclosure

soaked in festive foreclosure

 

 

a rosary book and a shadow catcher

holy water blues

the young boy trips on his Our Fathers

and worries of the priest's frowns

 

dark inside the confessional

faces blocked by some sliding deviant door

but fingers touch more than conscience

 

and acts of contrition

are recited by the wrong party.

 

 

 

erin-cilberto

3/1/19

Reviews

[Julie McCarthy (juliesp..]

Hi Jacob I like this a lot, this is going on in OZ too with the catholic priests and I am sure you have heard about it recently on your news about one going to prison last several days in OZ.
Well I am not a church goer anymore, Presbyterian or Uniting church they now call it, but just believe in the basics of Christianity. I like your poem and what it conveyed

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i believe in the basics as well...there is more than one way to believe and pray...thank you for your words,
j.

[kentuck14]

One wonders how long this has been going on. I grew up in the RCC and such a thing was never talked about . . . if even known. I no longer am a Catholic but it grieves me to see the church I knew become so unsafe for children. One of my favorite spiritual writers was Henri Nouwen, a Catholic priest (now dead); he was gay and a very spiritual man. My problem is not with gay priests; it's with the pedophiles who prey on the innocent.
J., this is a very effective poem . . . especially the ending.
Tom

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i imagine longer than we want to know...i was lucky, being an altar boy for years...our priests were okay, none of that...and yes, gay so what? but pedophile and then getting relocated? nasty.
thank you for your words, and me too...not practicing any more...organized religion has turned me off...not to God, just to organized religion.
j.

[kentuck14]

Although I'm still involved with "organized" religion, I sometimes struggle with it.

[john l smith]

This is a very effective write apart from the quality of the style.
A dark stain on the church still needing correction

[jacob erin-cilberto]

yes, a very dark one...that was relocated too many times,
thank you, john,
j.

[gram linski]

Excellent poem, j. did you know that the legal age for consent in the free state of the Vatican city is 12, why the f**k would you need that then,

[jacob erin-cilberto]

good question...thanks for the read and comment, gram.
j.

[Chris Shaw]

Sent shivers through me as I read this. Children and sex abuse in the Catholic Church by priests. Hard hitting. Cut right through to the quick. An excellent write jacob.

Chris

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thanks Chris...that is such a sore spot with me...having been raised Catholic...and having been an altar boy...luckily our priests were on the up and up...our pastor was quite crabby at 6:30 mass..but never physically abusive...
but all of that just seems too close.
thanks again for your words...yes i guess this one is more "out there" whereas, maybe the "damned dippers" poem is too obscure and just doesn't work...
thanks again...i value your feedback immensely...helps me to reflect my own work back to me...
j.

[Chris Shaw]

You were fortunate Jacob. My friend Claire attended a convent and was regularly beaten by nuns. It used to break my heart when she came home from her boarding school. She wasn't wanted by her step Dad and neither was she happy at school. So pleased that my feedback is really appreciated. That means a great deal.

[Crowley]

Whew...this is the right side of the knifes edge. I have no concept of the community within, but even without the issues it always seemed like a scary and heavy place to me. This brings my thoughts to near collapse. And weirdly, the acts of contrition from the right side, never seem to materialize. Heavy stuff for a Thursday, I loved every word.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you for your insightful comments, Crowley...
j.

[John Alexander McFadyen]

You open up, in a poem with such well projected images, the scars that now run deep through Catholicism. The number of priests involved in sex abuse is high and their reach widespread. I could feel the chapel chill and smell of incense and candle wax in this one Jacob.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

thank you, John...
j.