Solstice Prayer
To those who wear hats in the snow,
for those who have lost a son
yet do not know how to grieve
in the face of winter’s cold,
to truckers grinding chains
over the pass, stopping to sleep
on the shoulder of the freeway,
for candles flickering
on a table in the restaurant, an altar
of cards and flowers for a child.
To those who wore hats to his funeral
in the rain, for the bar tender
whose only son turned to alcohol,
to the mother who began
against her best intentions to sip
dregs of bottles left in corners
as if by a priest, dozens of shots—
take this, my blood—
can we agree these all
add up to the same intersection,
here, short and shorter days
come to meet the shortest day.
Author’s Biography
Judith Skillman’s poems have appeared in Bracken, Commonweal, Threepenny Review, Zyzzyva, and other literary journals. She has received awards from Academy of American Poets and Artist Trust. Oscar the Misanthropist received a Floating Bridge Press Chapbook Award. Her forthcoming collection is Oppression.
Visit www.judithskillman.com
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