formless supplication

and God
what shall I say to you but
help
like the Beatles
I suppose
or anyone inside a boat
with water pooled
and seeming
to rise

help
and bring some rags
and a life preserver
 the dry-land versions
this time
and I don’t know
what that
means
and I hope that
that’s all right
praying for formless things
nonetheless
to assist

because I know
you’re not a genie
and this is not a trick
with a lamp
or the words for what I want
to get them right
or be fooled in what
I’m getting
or not

and I like
the raven or the spider
in the story
but you are not a trickster
though you allowed
tricks upon yourself with
a kind of king
for a day
and then the awful truth
falling on you
by the end
in a darkened
noisy afternoon

I’m sorry
I’m simply asking
for your help
and in the grace of it
not knowing
what that help
should be
and does it count

lack of specificity
and I think it might

c l couch


photo by Martin Brechtl on Unsplash