To The Gimlet-Eyed I Am Writing This Letter Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

to the gimlet-eyed, I am writing this letter
not that I think you will read it
but your disguise is wearing a bit thin

whenever you gather together
to speak about someone's sin
(of course! it's always someone else)

and you zero in
like hawks to the target
but you've already had lunch

in fact, by this time
several or brunch
in the church basement

where you delicately pray
for so and so who is going
astray

while outside on the lawn
strolls the one you think so wrong!
speaking with God

in the cool of the day...
and hand-in-hand.

mary angela douglas 17 january 2016