SAINT JULIAN PRESS
Fred LaMotte ~ Poet
TEN THOUSAND WAYS TO PRAY
Smiling we know is a form of meditation.
Weeping is also prayer.
Worry is beseeching the Whirler of All
to bring you the things you don't want.
Anger is just one flavor of fire.
There are so many ways to become who you are.
To practice the purest tantra in your belly,
digest despair like bacon without naming it.
When the fire of outrage burns a hole
through your forehead, this is profound samadhi.
Now be the hole, fall through it, all the way down
to your rectum. This is yoga.
There are ten thousand ways to pray.
Lying here awake at 3 A.M. is one of them.
Glittering constellations conspire to sabotage clear thinking.
Big-breasted crone moon throbs, making
everyone crazy, then veils herself in raven feathers.
When your planets are ajar, rejoice in darkness.
When your horoscope feels like the web of a spider
who fell into a Starbuck's Frappuccino and got
hammered on caffein, so what?
Rebel empaths invent their own Qigong.
Wrestle with a mud-caked doodle of dubious pedigree.
Practice eye-gaze with your cat, shamanic totem
for the God of Uncertainty. Use holy violence
to defend hen’s eggs from a Norway rat.
Breathe the people you hate in and out of your solar plexus
until you distil them into tonic, 200 Proof.
Notice thrown-out alter flowers
on a rainy Monday morning sidewalk.
Don’t look away from the porcelain silence
on your mother's face as she takes her last breath.
Wake down. Compost your curses and tears.
Plummet into your belly button tenderly
grieving, sighing, murmuring
“Yes” to the night.
Weeping is also prayer.
Worry is beseeching the Whirler of All
to bring you the things you don't want.
Anger is just one flavor of fire.
There are so many ways to become who you are.
To practice the purest tantra in your belly,
digest despair like bacon without naming it.
When the fire of outrage burns a hole
through your forehead, this is profound samadhi.
Now be the hole, fall through it, all the way down
to your rectum. This is yoga.
There are ten thousand ways to pray.
Lying here awake at 3 A.M. is one of them.
Glittering constellations conspire to sabotage clear thinking.
Big-breasted crone moon throbs, making
everyone crazy, then veils herself in raven feathers.
When your planets are ajar, rejoice in darkness.
When your horoscope feels like the web of a spider
who fell into a Starbuck's Frappuccino and got
hammered on caffein, so what?
Rebel empaths invent their own Qigong.
Wrestle with a mud-caked doodle of dubious pedigree.
Practice eye-gaze with your cat, shamanic totem
for the God of Uncertainty. Use holy violence
to defend hen’s eggs from a Norway rat.
Breathe the people you hate in and out of your solar plexus
until you distil them into tonic, 200 Proof.
Notice thrown-out alter flowers
on a rainy Monday morning sidewalk.
Don’t look away from the porcelain silence
on your mother's face as she takes her last breath.
Wake down. Compost your curses and tears.
Plummet into your belly button tenderly
grieving, sighing, murmuring
“Yes” to the night.
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Publication Date: October 12, 2023
Paperback: $20.00 Publisher: Saint Julian Press, Inc. Language: English Paperback: 148 pages ISBN-13: 978-1-955194-21-1 |
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Available Through ~ Ingram Content Group ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound ~ Fine Book Distributors & Retailers
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com
SAINT JULIAN PRESS, INC. © 2022
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As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.