Philip Appleman: Five Easy Prayers for Pagans
Philip Appleman is distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Department of English, Indiana University, Bloomington, and has been called “the poet laureate of freethought and humanism.” His poetry is by turns touching, funny, and bitingly satirical. Dr. Appleman has graciously granted permission for me to publish a number of his poems here, so watch for them in the coming days.
Five Easy Prayers for Pagans
1
O flaky Goddess of Fortune, we beseech Thee:
in the random thrust of Thy fluky favor, vector
the luminous lasers of Thy shifty eyes
down upon these, Thy needy & oh-so-deserving
petitioners. Bend down to us the sexy
curve of Thine indifferent ear, and hear
our passionate invocation: let Thy lovely,
lying lips murmur to us the news
of all our true-false guesses A-OK,
our firm & final offers come up rainbows,
our hangnails & hang-ups & hangovers suddenly zapped,
reverends & rabbis & born-agains all on the run —
and then, O Goddess, give us your slippery word
that the faithless Lady Luck will hang around
in our faithful love, friendships less fickle than youth,
and a steady view of our world in its barefoot truth.
2
O Mammon, Thou who art daily dissed
by everyone, yet boast more true disciples
than all other gods together;
Thou whose eerie sheen
gleameth from Corporate Headquarters
and Vatican Treasury alike, Thou
whose glittering eye impales us
in the X-ray vision of plastic surgeons,
the golden leer of televangelists,
the star-spangled gloat of politicos —
O Mammon, come down to us in the form
of Treasuries, Annuities, & High-Grade Bonds;
yield unto us those Benedict Arnold Funds,
those Quicksand Convertible Securities, even the wet
Judas Kiss of Futures Contracts — for
unto the least of these Thy supplicants
art Thou welcome in all Thy many forms… But
when Thou comest to say we’re finally in the gentry —
use the service entry.
3
O Venus, Cupid, Astarte,
teach us Thy horsepower lingam, Thy firecracker yoni,
show us Thy hundreds of sacred & tingling positions,
each orifice panting for every groping tumescence.
O lead us into the back rooms of silky temptation
and deliver us over to midnights of trembling desire.
But before all the nectar & honey leak out of this planet,
give us our passion in marble, commitment in granite.
4
O Shiva, relentless Spirit of Outrage;
in this vale of tearful True Believers,
teach us to repeat again and again:
No, Your Reverences, we will not serve
your Gross National Voodoo, your Church
Militant — we will not flatter the double faces
of those who pray in the Temple of the Holy
Assault Rifle.
Gentle Preserver, preserve the pure irreverence
of our stubborn minds.
O target the priests, Implacable Destroyer,
and hire a lawyer.
5
O Karma, Dharma, pudding and pie,
gimme a break before I die:
grant me wisdom, will, & wit,
purity, probity, pluck, & grit.
Trustworthy, loyal, helpful, kind,
gimme great abs & a steel-trap mind,
and forgive, Ye Gods, some humble advice —
these little blessings would suffice
to beget an earthly paradise:
make the bad people good —
and the good people nice;
and before our world goes over the brink,
teach the believers how to think.
