Hands laid,
we’re praying in circles
until something new—
someone on the far side passes gas (there is no solemn
way to say it) and we laugh in stifled chokes and gasps.
My body trembles and my hands are laid on another
whose body is also trembling as we try to continue
with bitten lips and interrupted breaths but I think the laughter,
the gasping, the people together with hands on another
shaking with something like joy or something that transcends it
is the real prayer, the real presence, true believers in true communion,
and we had just been
praying in circles
hands laid.
Andrew Oom
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