Litany:

I

Mondays – I

start with my prayers

for you, composing

them on the backs

of receipts and the windows

of dewy cars: my

beloved.

 

II

Tuesdays – I

dream about your hands –

visions of carpals and

chewed fingernails, your

thumb kneading

the worn wood of

rosary beads.

 

III

Wednesdays – I

practice my confession

and am prescribed

a thousand hail mary’s

and our father’s

each for my

adoration.

 

IV

Thursdays – I

fill your altar

with rows of votive

candles, bathing

the ends of my hair

in melted wax – a

burning offering.

 

V

Fridays – (the

eucharist) I

replace the

elements: wine

and bread;

consuming

the sacred until

they’re gurgling

up into my throat.

 

VI

Saturday – body

and blood: goose

flesh, the skin

between your hips

and ribs, nape.

 

VII

Sunday – my

petition: give me this day