Stuff that Happens while I preach

By Michael Lyle

---

the man
who never pays attention
weeps

the councilman
who wants me gone
scribbles in the bulletin margins
while his wife holds a Bible
between her face and mine

a woman
beside her nodding husband
studies me like a child
might an ice cream cone

I mention evil,
and heads turn
to follow a wasp’s
perambulations
in winter’s dim-lit nave

the elderly usher
by the door
hands a bulletin
to the buzz-cut man
in a black duster
who threatened the secretary
Friday afternoon

---

Michael Lyle is the author of the poetry chapbook The Everywhere of Light (Plan B Press), and his poems have appeared widely, including Atlanta Review, The Carolina Quarterly, Crannóg, The Hollins Critic, Mudfish and Poetry East. He lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Michael's other work on Foreshadow:
Wick of the Soul (Poetry, October 2022)
Tennis Players (Poetry, October 2022)
Yahweh (Poetry, October 2022)
Family of God (Poetry, October 2022)
"Carvered" for Christmas (Non-fiction, December 2022)