i need jesus and mary and joseph

and robert llewelyn and the beads

and isabel abbott and coffee

and canadian poets in form

and unwrapping the christmas presents

i need a thin film of ice on the pavement

in front of the police station

i need the guffaw of rev'd matt 

in the sanctuary of saint james's

i need noontime confessions

after chicken sandwiches at the burren

and irish fiddle music

and tall glasses of water

i need the cloister of a cistercian abbey

away from phones and websites

away from laptops and memes

i need saint donna of arlington

and all the holy relics pertaining to her grace

i need a mulligan on 1990 but i'm not going to get one

i need the ability to be candid unwoundingly

i need hart crane and punctuation

i need estlin cummings and the legion of decency

i need yes-ma'aming banter

with the alpha females

of man who has it all

i need vanilla femdom

i need submission kink

i need to be tested for neurodivergence

because there's so much bloody overlap

i need to have things explained to me

i need gloria in excelsis

i need sister thea bowman

i need to work with pat on making hymns for church

i need to work with hilary on hugging and being hugged

i need the harbour of hilary’s compassion

i need to ask for things and receive them with grace

i need to drink more coffee

i need adequate heat in my apartment

i need entanglement and bureaucracy

i need a respite from lethargy

because it is exhausting

i need to renew my license

expired now more than three years

i need to not drink

i need do not go gentle into that good night

i need i knew a woman lovely in her bones

i need nothing false and possible is love

i need thirst i need evidence i need devotions

i need december with its gift and blessing of snow

i need mary and her intricate figures

i need mary's archangelic braid

i need she who is and sister joan chittister

i need acadia and the soup du jour

i need workshops and open mics

i need oxford street and the little crepe cafe

i need a keyboard that enables diacritical marks

i need alisha and her high church anglican black panther prayers

i need morrissey and the alley by the railway station

i need to stop repeating myself

i need to stop berating myself

i need to entertain my higher power

i need to deceive my guardian angel

i need to pretend that everything is all right

i need to pretend that i am not ashamed of myself

on some deep ineradicable level

i need kate moorehead carroll as guiding light

i need to confess my sins to a priest who has given birth

i need to pray and not to charlton heston