{"id":1682,"date":"2023-11-19T19:08:38","date_gmt":"2023-11-20T00:08:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pensivejournal.com\/?p=1682"},"modified":"2023-11-19T19:08:38","modified_gmt":"2023-11-20T00:08:38","slug":"credo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pensivejournal.com\/poetry\/credo\/","title":{"rendered":"Credo"},"content":{"rendered":"
I believe the witnesses of these things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I believe the song not sung at Babylon riverside.\u00a0 I\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n believe in don\u2019t cry, scream.\u00a0 You and your word.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The history of a charcoal fire, fine fish and thick\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n bread.\u00a0 I believe Hosanna, Alleluia, kudos, mazel\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n tov, joy, transubstantiation, disputation, sorrow\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n crows, notary publics.\u00a0 I believe in garments whiter\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n than snow. Whirlwind blooming.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I believe in Western Avenue car dealerships, Halsted\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Street gay bars, Clark Street taquerias, storefront\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Madison Street churches, vast vacant South Side lots\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n of buildings disappeared, labyrinth Lower Wacker\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Drive, South Water Market, Peanuts Park, Loretto\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Hospital, the gas bursting into air out of Bubbly Creek,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n the clots of high schoolers, dopey with youth, in\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s in mid-afternoon, the ostentatious simple\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n of Daniel Burnham\u2019s grave, the painting of Msgr. Long\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n posed as St. Edward in the circle high up in St. Martin de\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Porres Church, the pew there where the two who made\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n me vowed to wed, the tunnel of el tracks along Lake\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Street that my 12-year-old brother, unlost, walked home\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n seven miles to avoid asking for help. Who would answer?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Listen, I believe meniscus tear.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I believe the echo of the name-caller, the stained glass<\/span><\/p>\n shattering, the crumbling of the eucharistic Saltine.\u00a0 I\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n believe the red priest sermon, the baby\u2019s prayer for\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n salvation. Peasant pugilism, I believe. Gospel cockfights.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n I believe I ask three times.\u00a0 The thunder out of White\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Mountain, out of the Church of the Holy Innocent, out of\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n the Leamington gangway, the signboards weeds, the\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Blacktop glass glitter in sunrise, the deaf girl who was my\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n playmate once, the aroma of incense rising to the darkness\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n in the ceiling of the apse.\u00a0 Walls shaken, my brother\u2019s\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n forlorn bullet.\u00a0 I believe lightning.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n You want to know what I believe?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The yearn, turn, of the baby to light \u2014 the reach to hope.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I believe the witnesses of these things.\u00a0 I believe the song not sung at Babylon riverside.\u00a0 I\u00a0 believe in don\u2019t cry, scream.\u00a0 You and your word.\u00a0 The history of a charcoal fire, fine fish and thick\u00a0 bread.\u00a0 I believe Hosanna, Alleluia, kudos, mazel\u00a0 tov, joy, transubstantiation, disputation, sorrow\u00a0 crows, notary publics.\u00a0 I believe in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"issue":[289],"coauthors":[368],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n