Shard Poem: Stained Souls
JOHN BENNETT
(originally sent to Bennett’s email list — sign up below for more like this)
What’s a
stained soul?
Is it like
stained glass?
Soiled underwear?
An unscrubbed
toilet bowl?
Am I
staining
my soul
talking
this way?
How much
stain can
a soul
bear up
under before
it sinks
into hell?
How many
souls got
there before
mine &
do they
suffer?
I don’t
want to
suffer.
But maybe
I won’t
maybe I’ll
be free
at last
once my
soul departs.
Are souls
white as
the driven
snow when they
start out?
& where
is it
they start
out from?
How did
they get
there to
begin with?
Here we
go again.
What do
souls
look like?
A wedge of
Swiss cheese?
Are they
weightless
transparent
waterproof?
Do they
have anything
to do
with God
or are they
free agents?
What right
do we
have to
lay claim
to them?
Will they
take over
the earth
once we’ve
rendered it
uninhabitable
for corporeal
life forms?
Imagine the
earth spinning
around the
sun trailing
a gauzy
veil of
stained souls.
Imagine the
rustling sound
they make.
Imagine souls
breaking off
& drifting into
deep space.
Imagine life
forms on a
distant planet
in a
distant galaxy
welcoming them
with open
arms, listening
far into
the night
to their
stories of
all the
places
they’ve been.
SEE ALSO
The birth of road rageCapitalism on a deathbed, or: Jesus was an American
In the Prophetic Essence of Visionary Courage, John Bennett Challenges & Incites
Find John Bennett’s novels, short stories, and shards at Hcolom Press. You can contact him, or get on his Shards list at dasleben@fairpoint.net. Read a review of his novel Children of the Sun & Earth here
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