Confession
J. Speer/ John Knoll
bless me father,
its been 31 years
since my last confession.
these are my sins:
i’ve been married to
three women at the same time.
i’ve committed
27 armed robberies.
used god’s name in vain
many times.
i’ve deserted my children
& raped a retarded bar maid in San Antonio
i’ve broken almost
all the commandments,
father, can you forgive me?
“say five our fathers &
five hail marys, my son.
you are forgiven.”
but father, i’ve been bad,
real bad. i’ve lied, cheated.
i’ve even stolen money from
my child’s piggy bank
to buy drugs.
father, i murdered a
jewish banker&yesterday
i drowned three innocent puppies.
“my son, you are forgiven.
now, go in peace.”
this pissed me off
it reminded me
when i was a parochial student
required to attend
confession once a week.
i didn’t commit enough sins
for seamy reportage.
to earn my penance
i invented sins.
“father,” i said
“i poisoned the city drinking water
i planted bombs on random perambulators
i put ex-lax in the brownie mix at the old folks home
i played with myself while reading the bible
can you forgive me father?”
“my son, say five our fathers&
five hail marys
go in peace.”
this reminded me of john
so angered in the confessional
that he threatened the priest
with a sexual encounter.
the priest got excited
offered john 50 dollars.
the priest hadn’t been buggered since his seminary days.
“but god.” i cried
“what do i have to do
to get the punishment i deserve?”
“just live my son,” the priest
said. “just live.”
