prayer of supplication
by Patrick Kindig
please (i want a bigger
bed) please (& a new dining room
table) please (i want carnations
for the table) please please (&
a man to give them
to me) please (this man)
please (i want his hands) please
(i want him to use his hands
to lift away loose eyelashes)
please (to touch cats & rabbits)
please please (&) please (i want him
too) please (to touch me) please please
(like a cat) please (like a rabbit) please
please (like a chicken that needs
its neck wrung) please please
please (i want him to be) please
(that soft thing my body falls
against) please please (i want him)
please (to be the hard one) please
please (i want my body to crest
against his shoulder’s sharp
ridge) please please (i want
to break there) please
please please (i want to die)
please (i want a bigger
bed) please (& a new dining room
table) please (i want carnations
for the table) please please (&
a man to give them
to me) please (this man)
please (i want his hands) please
(i want him to use his hands
to lift away loose eyelashes)
please (to touch cats & rabbits)
please please (&) please (i want him
too) please (to touch me) please please
(like a cat) please (like a rabbit) please
please (like a chicken that needs
its neck wrung) please please
please (i want him to be) please
(that soft thing my body falls
against) please please (i want him)
please (to be the hard one) please
please (i want my body to crest
against his shoulder’s sharp
ridge) please please (i want
to break there) please
please please (i want to die)
Patrick Kindig is a dual MFA/PhD candidate in poetry/American literature at Indiana University. He’s the author of the micro-chapbook Dry Spell (Porkbelly Press 2016), and his poems have recently appeared or are forthcoming in CutBank, Third Coast, Meridian, Hobart, and other journals.