First Sunday of Lent

Off to Church we go and then
the day really begins
children to be taught
endless forms for checking distributed this morning
gotta control all we see
gotta get it all on paper
i have written about all this before
see how the themes come around again
------------------------------------
i didn't plan on lent being this way
but it seems like this year
away from the themes of balance n prayer n stuff
into displacement
and angst
unsettled thoughts about the world and the future
about the church and what
the hell I think I'm on about
about upsetting the apple cart of my all too
comfortable middle class existence
listening to ancient words
applying them to new contexts
think outside the shape which
we are conditioned into
perhaps this is real lent
to live on the fringes of yourself
listening to your long lost dreams
holding on to promises
and imaginings
and becoming new
in the process

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