Mike James: Trying to Pray

When I close my eyes I swim in darkness
I can’t leave my body behind
Something’s always pulling me from the coast
 
So many of the best things in this world
Are measured out at dusk
 
No bread bakes in the Sunday kitchen 
Now is the time the crow heads to her nest
 
Some nights I dream of hands holding water 
Some nights they are a man’s hands
Some nights a woman’s 
 

Mike James makes his home outside Nashville, Tennessee. His many books include Journeyman’s Suitcase (Spartan Press, 2020).

Copyright 2021 Mike James