Two Poems by Maryanne Hannan
"The goodness of the Lord / worms flavor at large. . . ."
Cycle
Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and beast.
– Psalm 135:8
Was God happy then?
Rather say
He did not delight
to see the mothers
tear their veils,
pummel the earth,
the grandmothers’ strangled grief,
the village awash in gore.
Tell us He could see
a man coming
who’d demand the left cheek
be turned to the hammer,
and when this man was His Son,
His own heart would splinter.
Flavors
O taste and see that the Lord is good.
– Psalm 34:8
Taste and taste and taste.
Relish the way
you eat; are consumed,
a full mouth having room
for more, the alchemy of sweet.
And if by chance, you glimpse
your neighbor’s plate, infer
her strange and bitter palate,
don’t be alarmed.
The goodness of the Lord
worms flavor at large.
Maryanne Hannan is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. She is the author of Rocking Like It’s All Intermezzo: 21st-Century Psalm Responsorials (Wipf and Stock, 2019). Find more information at www.mhannan.com.