Pantoum of the divine absence

Pantoum of the divine absence

I kneel before the tabernacle of the divine

absence, praying to no one. Where is

my God? Where is love? Where is hope?

Why am I so alone, I beg of you, find

 

absence, praying to no one. Where is

Some way for it to end. Give me love give me

Why am I so alone, I beg of you, find

death, either will do. And there is silence

 

Some way for it to end. Give me love give me

only ever silence only ever my missing

death, either will do. And there is silent

God pouring darkness into endless night.

 

only ever silence only ever my missing

God. Where is love? Where is hope?

God pouring darkness into endless night.

I kneel before the tabernacle of the divine

 

Call me Jocasta

I will swallow you

Devour you

Consume you with

My toothless mouth

Bring you back within me

To this place where you began.

 

They Grieve

When you’re in the presence of someone mourning

And your heart strains to be released from their pain

You stay—as you must—to leave would be a crime—

Feeling profane voyeurism like reading the words in

The soul-rending brutality of a memoir of a parent who

Has lost a child: you’re turning the pages against your will—

You offer nothing, no words of comfort in the margins

And speaking would be desecration while your silence

Is the silence of a savior who cannot save—

 

D.A. Hosek’s poetry has appeared in Belt Magazine, Door Is a Jar, Exacting

Clam, Invisible City, I-70 Review and elsewhere. He earned his MFA from the

University of Tampa. He lives and writes in Oak Park, IL and spends his days as

an insignificant cog in the machinery of corporate America. http://dahosek.com