Father Mississippi: A Prayer by Richard Weaver

Bless these ferns that struggle to lift their heads
in a world where temptation

is a bulldozer and man is blind to everything
that doesn’t bite him first. And bless

the four-legged starfish who crawls across the reef
only to be eaten, and rejoice in the kingdom of salt.

Bring peace down
upon all those who glow in this dark

so that we might see their way.
And allow the beached dolphin one last glimpse

of the daymoon before it too fades into blue.
Let the treefrogs sing their song of this earth.

And the earth turn this flesh
back to shapeless clay.



-Previously published in The Cape Rock

Richard Weaver continues as the official writer-in-residence at the James Joyce Pub, though he splits time with Hooley’s Public House in San Diego.