Waiting is a kind of praying
or a kind of jailing and both
can happen at the same time
because you are the priest and
the altar is built with your
labor and you are the jailer
and you hold the key and no
matter what happens today,
the benediction or incarceration,
communion or execution,
transubstantiation or exoneration,
is in your hands, held together
in prayer or open with the gift
of forgiveness or knotted in
anger or pushing the blessing
away. It is up to you to say
exactly what will happen today.
Cassie Premo SteeleCassie Premo Steele is a lesbian, ecofeminist, mother, poet, novelist, and essayist whose writing focuses on the themes of trauma, healing, creativity, mindfulness and the environment. She is an award-winning author of 16 books and audio programs ranging from novels to poetry and nonfiction and scholarship. Her newest book, Swimming in Gilead, is forthcoming from Yellow Arrow Publishing in 2023. And her poetry has won numerous awards, including the Archibald Rutledge Prize named after the first Poet Laureate of South Carolina, where she lives with her wife. Her website is www.cassiepremosteele.com
