Poetry by Brian C. Billings
He climbs the rungs with confidence—
the left hand clutching a paint-can handle,
the right one reaching up clawed, tense—
when he suddenly steps free of a sandal
and drops toward the prickly aloe leaves
curling toothily like lounging crocodiles.
In the middle of the tumble, he receives
religion never realized in the aisles
of his worn and musty Sunday church.
He flings the can on high in offering.
The placid black inside ascends to search
for signs along the nearby wall and bring
to life two splashed doves that pour
hosannas on their anointed author.
Brian C. Billings is a professor of drama and English at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. His work has appeared in such journals as Ancient Paths, The Bluebird Word, Confrontation, Evening Street Review, Glacial Hills Review, and Poems and Plays. Publishers for his scripts include Eldridge Publishing and Heuer Publishing.
