It is exciting to welcome back the esteemed poet, novelist, and educator R.M. Francis to our This Sunday Morning Poet spot. "Anthony," is a new work destined to delight. If you can't love your saints on a Sunday morning... R.M. is the author of "Ameles / Currents of Unmindfulness," a collection of short stories he describes as "tales of disquiet and lingering dread." You can find this chilling collection on Amazon and other bookstores.
ANTHONY
Saint Anthony ushers us
through morning mists
into lustre, set against pale stone Worcester.
He beckons us up creaking stairs
away from the lethe - up
to second story windows
easing into thirteenth century ledges
to spy Benedictine spectres,
stoic, refined, sowing. Toil’s unbroken
rhizomes call, like Evelyn’s church toll called -
Order. Spanning centuries. Order.
Anthony, who sought things that were lost
in Pinfold state, claims two boys
lost in ivy-drenched gardens,
picking at Petty Spurge for petri dishes,
In dérive with rows of Jesuits’ Bark, Bishop’s Weed.
Anthony aids penicillin boys
to stress covens of fungus.
Order. Spanning centuries. Order.
We possess nothing certainly except the past.
© 2023, R.M. Francis
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