• Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Flash Fiction
  • Nonfiction
  • Book Reviews
  • Translations
  • About
  • Awards
  • Submissions
  • Buy LAR
  • Poetry
  • Fiction
  • Flash Fiction
  • Nonfiction
  • Book Reviews
  • Translations
  • About
  • Awards
  • Submissions
  • Buy LAR

Byrd Mass for Four Voices by Patrick Donnelly


on the radio, and Christ it’s the 80s again,
and after a whole night at the baths I’m a baritone
in the back row of a choir ten blocks west.
A professional, fresh from the conservatory.

Bathhouse and parish both named for saints:
I paid to enter the house of Mark, who ran away
naked when Jesus was arrested, and where
I wrestled all night, though not with angels.

Then, 9 A.M. in the house of Joseph, God’s cuckold,
I was paid in turn—the church paid me—
to be another man, of the 1580s, who opened
his practiced mouth with a clear, untroubled tone.

Two wrestling saints, lowest of the four voices—
once I thought I saw them kiss each other’s faces.

 

 

 


Patrick Donnelly is the author of four books of poetry, most recently Little-Known Operas (Four Way Books, 2019). Donnelly is director of the Poetry Seminar at The Frost Place, Robert Frost’s old homestead in Franconia, NH, now a center for poetry and the arts. www.patrickdonnellypoetry.com



Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Heaven by Mir Arif
  • Give by Ma Yan Translated by Winnie Zeng
  • Lubbock Spring by Emma Aylor
  • Intermezzos Along the Road Home by Kathryn Petruccelli
  • A Review and an Interview of Lawrence Raab’s April at the Ruins

Recent Comments

  • Judith Fodor on Three Poems by David Keplinger
  • Marietta Brill on 2 Poems by Leah Umansky

Categories

  • Award Winners
  • Blooming Moons
  • Book Reviews
  • Fiction
  • Flash Fiction
  • Interviews
  • LAR Online
  • Nonfiction
  • Poetry
  • Translations
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Recent Posts

  • Heaven by Mir Arif
  • Give by Ma Yan Translated by Winnie Zeng
  • Lubbock Spring by Emma Aylor
  • Intermezzos Along the Road Home by Kathryn Petruccelli
  • A Review and an Interview of Lawrence Raab’s April at the Ruins
© 2014 Los Angeles Review. All Rights Reserved. Design and Developed by NJSCreative Inspired by Dessign.net