Jacob Bearer Poems

Kneeling in the wooden pew,
before the gold monstrance,
the 'Tantum Ergo' catches me away,
and I am swallowed by the Body
...

'Let me run to you, the spring, and drink the divine draught
that you cause to pour forth for the thirsty,
offering water from your side opened by the spear' (St. Gregory of Nyssa)
...

At night the field slips on a negligee of white mist
that glides down the plain's winter body
while the boughs curl their fingers
before my trail crunched in the snow -
...

The snow falls like dust
blown from God's forgotten novel -
the film forgotten once brushed away.
But, as if to say, "You love me, too, "
...

For grad school I took a [test]
filling in empty circles, true or false
in a white washed asylum,537 questions full.
...

At 21 years old
I still like to bang
on plastic plates and cups
with chopsticks -
...

White buildings enraged us,
so we got red and black paint,
to screw up every one of 'em.
...

(St. Petersburg,2008 June 4)

Your fanged sterile gloves,
and snarling scrubs, tear into me
...

Walking into that bar,
the black lights unearthed lost ancestry.
The entire tree was blooming,
from the tattoo-sleeved Neandertahl,
...

Margret's rearview mirror rosary swayed,
as her wrinkled car filed into the lot,
falling in step to the airy chant
of those black crows atop the belfry.
...