Saint Flannery hear my plea
May your ears listen to my supplication
My sentences won’t do my will
They sprawl like unruly vegetables
                     Weed and fertilize. Prune and watch for caterpillars.
The workshop rise up against me.
They laugh at my moral endings.
                     The soul to achieve grace
                     Must divest itself of the love 
                     Of created beings.
Saint Flannery hear my plea
My stories have no mystery.
                     Life is a mystery.
                     If your story has no life
                     Be still.
Saint Flannery they torment me.
No one will listen to my denouement.
                    When the time comes we will all be heard by someone
                    Whether we want to be or not.
Saint Flannery comfort me.
My characters will not collide.
                    There is nothing in earth or heaven
                    Escapes the eye of God
                    Which breaks whatever is not well made
                    With a spring inside
                    Drawn from the rock.
Saint Flannery hear my plea:
What if I never see God?
                   The spirit hovered over the depths
                   And then said: Let there be light.
                   And then he rested on the seventh day
                  And didn’t write another word.
Saint Flannery stay with me
For I fear the night grows quiet.
                  Listen to the wind in the trees.
                  It’s calling you and the tails of peacocks
                  Leave feathers to touch
                  On the heartless ground.
Saint Flannery stay with me
For nothing I write will last.
                Nothing is in the eye of God
                More than a handful of dust
                And a prayer waiting for light,
               A breath soon lost.