Selfishly, You Pray

To stake the ear
of weighted ones
to your lapping,

your distraction
of the righteous
to your petty,

broken appliance,
your kindling
of trapped wills.

Even on others,
your words point
the supposed bolt

wrongly. Unholy,
prayer itself,
is only confession.

Darren Demaree lives and writes in Columbus, Ohio with his wife and daughter. He has finished master’s work in Creative Writing at Miami University in Southwestern Ohio.