March 2018
David Huddle
dhuddle@uvm.edu
dhuddle@uvm.edu
Note: As a boy I took prayer seriously. As a grown-up I’m skeptical of it--especially as it’s commonly practiced, which amounts to asking God for something. But it does seem to me an act of spiritual resonance when one prays for someone else to survive suffering, bad health, hardship, or danger. So I launch the occasional prayer, but almost immediately I question my integrity and that of the request I’ve made. Which is to say that I don’t believe in prayer, but I practice it almost involuntarily.
How Do You Pray?
Since I grew up in a church I still have
the praying inclination though I’ve come
to think of god--which is to say science
and coincidence--as neither inclined nor
capable of listening but my prayer habit
kicks in anyway and so I’ll hear a voice
from that churchy part of my brain begin
O Lord please--followed by a request to
turn fate this way or that, but I rarely
get very far with the ask because when I
put it into words shame comes down on me
I become aware of the millions of people
suffering unspeakable hardship pain loss
Lord I’ll shut up now. Ignore me please.
© 2018 David Huddle
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