Kevin Brown

We pray for protection

from the cancer

carving its way

through our stomachs

and intestines, cuts cleaner

than the scalpel

chasing it; from the drunk

driver who weaves his way

through destiny, seemingly

determined to damage

our lives; or even from the fear

that permeates

a people who have forgotten their

friends and neighbors. Perhaps, though, divine

deliverance is found in freedom from

the frogs and locusts

that plague us, in the chasing away

of storks that limit life

in a convent, prevent

nuns from praying

for us all. And perhaps,

just perhaps,

that is enough.

 

Kevin Brown is a Professor at Lee University.  He has published two books of poetry–A Lexicon of Lost Words (winner of the Violet Reed Haas Prize for Poetry, Snake Nation Press) and Exit Lines (Plain View Press, 2009)–and two chapbooks: Abecedarium (Finishing Line Press, 2011) and Holy Days: Poems (winner of Split Oak Press Chapbook Contest, 2011).  He also has a memoir, Another Way: Finding Faith, Then Finding It Again (Wipf and Stock, 2012), and a book of scholarship, They Love to Tell the Stories:  Five Contemporary Novelists Take on the Gospels (Kennesaw State University Press, 2012).  He received his MFA from Murray State University.