Not racist but

Grace alone

Project respect,

blessed speck,

unearth your

earthen vessel

to pour wine from

a jagged neck,

wield your mortar

without pestle.

Find a scrap of

wit, a dreck, in

which there

seems to nestle

an intimate God kiss,

a peck, preambling

as we wrestle.

Jacob / Israel,

heal or wreck,

heap soul food

on civic trestle:

grace alone can

hope detect.

Grace will arrest,

contest all.

earthwards

ball

hits bat

bat

rescinds ball

ball

furrows wind

airborne

orb flies

air

escapes time

time

dawdles frail

fleet

feet dance

skirting

fields aplenty

fielders

follow flight

gravity

arrests path

ball

plummets earthwards

digits

castinetting clickedy

fingers

fumble fling

catch

as catch

can

carapaced embraced

again

and despond

blooms

batsman walks

diminished

with hue

of

irascible blue

Get notted

I'm not

homophobic but

if you

question my

relished prejudice

satirise my

hissy fits

you're not

playing fair

I'm not

racist but

don't you

call out

my revulsion

or reveal

cultural discrimination

(not here

over there)

I ain't

xenophobic but

those outcasts

on their

failed flotillas

are all

killers in

terror chrysalis —

beyond care

I'm not

sexist but

your flaunting

of sexual

freedom, power,

makes me

long for

lost hour,

frail misère

I'm no

curmudgeon but

stop children

happ'ly playing

and hide

suckling infant

flailing at

bosom pressed

out bare

I'm a

neo conservative

a term

that is

derivative of

values lost

and damaged

beyond repair

mon frère

If you

peer quite

closely you

will notice

I am

mostly not

a loving

breathing person

(that's rare)

Barry Gittins is a communication and research consultant for The Salvation Army.

Clock image: Shutterstock