Michael Waters: Punk Prayer

Abbey, Eibingen, 12^th C

Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow, 21^st C

.

In language of her own wild invention,

Nun & mystic Hildegard von Bingen

Offered prayers only God could ascertain,

.

Though she must have wondered, slipping again

Into ecstatic visionary daze,

How such odd words resounded in His brain.

.

Centuries later, God remembers her

As the guitar thrash of Pussy Riot

Explodes in sacrificial orgasm,

.

The frescoed cherubim & stone-eyed saints

Startled by eccentricity & rage:

Three pierced daughters, each gorgeous in His gaze.

—

Copyright 2015 Michael Waters. First published in The American Poetry Review. Reprinted by permission of the author.