---

 

This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN# / ISBN# issue/book “Approaching Front” cc&d (v251) (the Sep./Oct. 2014 Issue) You can also order this 6"x9" issue as a paperback book:

Order this writing in the book Need to Know Basis (extended edition) (the 2014 longer prose & poetry collection book)		get this poem collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Order this writing in the book One Solitary Word the cc&d July - Dec. 2014 collection book		get the 402 page July - Dec. 2014 cc&d magazine issue collection 6" x 9" ISBN# paperback book:

Ode #5 to St. Jude, Patron Saint for Lost or Impossible Causes.

Kenneth DiMaggio

The money I stole from the wallet
of a friend who let me pass out
on his futon or the near library
of books I took from public schools
I was a substitute teacher in yes
I am guilty but students would have
only inked or ripped the pages
of King Lear and while Larry
was a good friend he was
also spending all his money
on cocaine and when he could
not afford it then: Crack
which like so many other drugs
crimes or vices
— I never acquired a taste for
but— coward liar book thief yes

And so I surrender
to Jesus Mohammed Buddha
Bill W and most of all St. Jude
patron saint for lost causes
—at least when I pray to him
he already expects and I think
accepts my inevitable failure

And if I am no longer welcome
at any AA or NA meetings
in Hartford I will still keep
coming back to a saint
whose name so often
gets mistaken with that
of a traitor
—or are saints more like
the sinners they pray for?
—just like the sinners
are possessed by the same
love and suffering
that possesses a saint

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...