Prayer for My Fiancé before His Bachelor Party
Poetry by LaToya Jordan
Our Father, who art in Heaven,
However he be: drunk, sober, slipping strippers dollar bills, belligerent with a large group of men who look like him, I pray the Lord his soul to keep.
Deliver him from the shape-shifting gene that lies in all Black men. Let him remain bald, dark, and 6’3”. Lead him not toward the ability to stretch taller, shrink shorter, glamour his skin lighter, or insta-grow a full head of dreads.
Lord, I pray that his soap opera evil twin does no wrong tonight.
Please keep him from being Belled, from being felled by police guns moving faster than axes to chop down dark and scary forests and make newspapers of him.
And lead him not to be Dialloed, black wallet in his back pocket is not made of morph-leather; it does not become a gun. Though he does make-believe guns with his pointer finger and thumb, please shine a little light on the police so that they see his hands, just hands.
O Lord, save him from brown-skinned concrete cannibals, shape shifters who, at night, blend with the cement they stand on, harden like stone. Save him from their thirst for their own kind.
This Lord I seek: Please let him fit the description of a president and have a police escort home so that we can dwell in our home all the days of our life together.
Amen.
Hear the author read this poem.
LaToya Jordan is a poet from Brooklyn, NY. She lives with her English-teacher-husband and two cats in a tiny apartment with an infestation of books. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University Los Angeles.
I Love it mama and you look beautiful.
God Bless you
Awesome poem and hearing the poet’s voice adds to the intensity.
This is dope! As always, I am so proud of you. You”re famous!
I like this one a lot! It should be assigned reading! Nice job T!
Gurllll, You a Baaaaaaaddddd, - baaaaaaddddd Lady!! (And pretty, too)! I’m sooooo Proud of you! Make sure you let all your Friends know that um’ yo GramPa!! I want em’to KNOW!!
preach it!
Nice poem
Lol
What a great piece…so much talent!
Beautiful prayer for all women.Best of love and luck to you