THE DEATH OF ST. MARY’S
Copy Write 2011 by Gordon Kuhn
1/1/2011
A shadow,
there!
Did not you see it by the stair?
A flute player stood lonely with his lute
and plucked the missing strings with his tongue.
From her lung rang out a wordless song,
while long wondered the camel for its missing hump;
and a lump rose up in St. Mary’s concrete throat
at the decline in worshipers who filled the pews,
and wondered about the fuse the laborer lit,
then realized it was a wrecking company
that did accompany a dynamite team
just as the seam was ripped in one big clap of thunder
and St. Mary suddenly went asunder.
Poet in the Rain 
You’ve painted a vivid picture of the end of a church – is there also a newly rebuilt church insight on the horizon? I find your use of a flute / lute interesting as I have always associated organ or piano music with churches. What inspired you to write this poem? Thanks so much for posting “St. Mary’s” – well done.
Suzie, hi…hmmm, what caused me to write this poem? I have no earthly idea. It just happened which is what generally takes place with me. I had written the first three lines earlier in the day, then the idea of a flute player standing not with a flute but a lute came to mind then the rest of the poem fell into place. Much of my writing is like this. And, yes, it is about the death of a church and yet I was not setting myself up to write such a poem. I really don’t know how to explain it any further. The words come, sometimes slow, sometimes in a quick rush and I’m never sure where I’ll end up. I have two books on poetry that make the comment poets don’t really understand what the heck they are writing. Hmmmmm, well, not sure about that, but pretty sure I can’t tell you the “why” for a poem to form in my head or the “what” is it all about. Wish I could.