Boys in the balcony
They were fighter planes
the size of bubble gum wrappers
We weren't supposed to chew gum in church
might make us cough and start a chain reaction
might fall out in the offering plate
What if it popped during "hallowed be…"
would that make God angry…
"God," whose name I could trace with my finger
in the wavy grain of the oak
my mother sat upon so properly
my father so uprightly
Except when a brave B12
one engine out
tumbled from the balcony for a crash landing in
Mrs. Parker's auburn wig
The pilot nearly died in that fire
They were fighter planes
the size of bubble gum wrappers
We weren't supposed to chew gum in church
might make us cough and start a chain reaction
might fall out in the offering plate
What if it popped during "hallowed be…"
would that make God angry…
"God," whose name I could trace with my finger
in the wavy grain of the oak
my mother sat upon so properly
my father so uprightly
Except when a brave B12
one engine out
tumbled from the balcony for a crash landing in
Mrs. Parker's auburn wig
The pilot nearly died in that fire