You’ve Got Our Ear

by Marjorie Maddox

“Whimper or bang? And when

will the world end?” we type

into the small god we pretend

we don’t believe in but still pray

to daily—CNN and the Times

our daily litany of grief and fear

for middle-of-the-night pleas

for please, please bestow mercy

and absolute absolution for all

in this Age of Anxiety. O Saint

Siri, guardian of Gnostics and

news fanatics alike, strike us 

blind to blind acceptance of

inevitable doomsdays, cleanse

our fingers of your sanitized

keys, this disease that infects

every query, text, calculation, 

call, weather check, every app

we claim as calm, even as we

type, believe, confess, receive,

repeat, delete. 

---

Professor of English at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published 11 collections of poetry, the story collection What She Was Saying, 4 children’s/YA books, Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (co-editor), and Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry (assistant editor). Her books, Begin with a Question (Paraclete) and Heart Speaks Is Spoken For (Shanti Arts), are forthcoming in 2021. Please see www.marjoriemaddox.com.