digits, emojis, abcs
compose a code
an irregular ode
void of literacy
cursive, capitalization, punctuation
go old school
immediate mass communication
has no rule
how we connect
changes with time
words can’t reflect
your heart and mine
Jonathan Swift said, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” SECOND BLESSING ponders this truth.
PRELUDE TO A DISASTER
THAT HEATHEN SPEAKS
SHAMELESS SACRILEGE
!HOLIER THAN THOU
SEEING RED
THE VISIT
MORE RED
SAND OF THE SEA
CRY WOLF
CHRIST HAUNTED
SURPASSING UNDERSTANDING
In a place
Nobody goes
Is a grave
Nobody knows
With no ‘In Memory Of.’
A blank slab
Weathered and gray
People blab
About today
With no ‘In Memory Of.’
Unsaved souls
Disintegrate
Inside holes
Outside the gate
With no ‘In Memory Of.’
What’s below?
Honor or shame
I don’t know
We’re all the same
With no ‘In Memory Of.’
Charity
The greatest one
Rarity
Among those shun
With no ‘In Memory Of.’
God gave us
A holy plan
Love and bless
Your fellow man
With no ‘In Memory Of.’
One day we
May understand
Living free
Throughout the land
With no ‘In Memory Of.’
The hardcover edition does contain red. The minimum printing price is the reason for the price.
The paperback edition doesn’t contain red and those words are a faded black losing the overall impact.
The Kindle Edition does contain red words adding to the impact. Whatever choice is made I hope you enjoy my book!
(Title and a quote from Mildred)
PRELUDE TO A DISASTER
I was hoping Revival would rejuvenate me this year, but that would take a bigger miracle than the parting of the Red Sea and turning water into wine combined. It’s going to be a mess, a complete disaster.
THAT HEATHEN SPEAKS
Mama said she couldn’t hear herself toot. Too bad I’m not that way now.
SHAMELESS SACRILEGE
Open Communion with that heathen helping! Is he totally insane! Who does Alex think we are, plebeian Methodists? This won’t be tolerated! He might as well spit on the Elements! Wait until the Lord and I are through with him!
HOLIER THAN THOU
God blessed me with a Second Blessing for a reason. He doesn’t dispense His gifts willy-nilly. Even Jesus knew His limitations, confined to dusty godforsaken corner of the world. Bet you Mary had fits struggling to keep that house clean.
SEEING RED
You’re the kind of hypocrite good Christians have been warned about since the dawn of time. As Mama always said, “Although atheists are dead wrong, they’re sincere in their disbelief.”
THE VISIT
Some make missing a pleasure, like a toothache.
MORE RED
You could spend the rest of your life on your knees begging and it still wouldn’t help. I’m sure good dead Christians everywhere are spinning in their graves!
SAND OF THE SEA
My trials and tribulations are as many as the sand of the sea.
CRY WOLF
The ability to strike terror into hearts just by being me is a guilty pleasure.
CHRIST HAUNTED
I’m suffering more than Job!
SURPASSING UNDERSTANDING
How can I hate my son? My tears will fill every ocean twice.
PRELUDE TO A DISASTER
I was hoping Revival would rejuvenate me this year, but that would take a bigger miracle than the parting of the Red Sea and turning water into wine combined. It’s going to be a mess, a complete disaster.
THAT HEATHEN SPEAKS
Mama said she couldn’t hear herself toot. Too bad I’m not that way now.
SHAMELESS SACRILEGE
Open Communion with that heathen helping! Is he totally insane! Who does Alex think we are, plebeian Methodists? This won’t be tolerated! He might as well spit on the Elements! Wait until the Lord and I are through with him!
HOLIER THAN THOU
God blessed me with a Second Blessing for a reason. He doesn’t dispense His gifts willy-nilly. Even Jesus knew His limitations, confined to dusty godforsaken corner of the world. Bet you Mary had fits struggling to keep that house clean.
SEEING RED
You’re the kind of hypocrite good Christians have been warned about since the dawn of time. As Mama always said, “Although atheists are dead wrong, they’re sincere in their disbelief.”
THE VISIT
Some make missing a pleasure, like a toothache.
MORE RED
You could spend the rest of your life on your knees begging and it still wouldn’t help. I’m sure good dead Christians everywhere are spinning in their graves!
SAND OF THE SEA
My trials and tribulations are as many as the sand of the sea.
CRY WOLF
The ability to strike terror into hearts just by being me is a guilty pleasure.
CHRIST HAUNTED
I’m suffering more than Job!
How can I hate my son? My tears will fill every ocean twice.
The organ bellows shrills and groans. Revival at the Damascus Southern Baptist Church has begun. Mildred, sitting in the pew dedicated to her late husband, shakes her head inside and sighs. I was hoping Revival would rejuvenate me this year, but that would take a bigger miracle than the parting of the Red Sea and turning water into wine combined. It’s going to be a mess, a complete disaster.
Francis Paul Day, an ex-alcoholic junkie, is the speaker. For Mildred this is beyond blasphemy. And, if matters weren’t horrible enough, that heathen has the same christened name as my beloved son! A heathen not worthy to spit polish my boy’s boots!
Mildred’s Second Blessing confirms her holier-than-thou belief, but after choking on Communion she doubts. Will her faith crumble because of a family secret?
The organ bellows shrills and groans. Revival at the Damascus Southern Baptist Church has begun. Mildred, sitting in the pew dedicated to her late husband, shakes her head inside and sighs. I was hoping Revival would rejuvenate me this year, but that would take a bigger miracle than the parting of the Red Sea and turning water into wine combined. It’s going to be a mess, a complete disaster.
Francis Paul Day, an ex-alcoholic junkie, is the speaker. For Mildred this is beyond blasphemy. And, if matters weren’t horrible enough, that heathen has the same christened name as my beloved son! A heathen not worthy to spit polish my boy’s boots!
Mildred’s Second Blessing confirms her holier-than-thou belief, but after choking on Communion she doubts. Will her faith crumble because of a family secret?
Society has buried those branded outcast in unmarked graves, at cross-roads, and outside the cemetery fence. Crossbones Graveyard is a famous, or infamous, example.
IN MEMORY OF is my version of this cruel custom. It’s the story of an unmarked grave outside the cemetery fence closer to Mobile than Montgomery, wedged between woods and water, in a place nobody goes. According to folklore, Thomas John Sutton, 14, is buried under.
Thomas loves Esther, but she isn’t accepted in Canaan because of her bastard birth. After discovering the secret of his birth, Thomas fears he’ll be treated the same. It’s another example of two teenagers struggling against an unforgiving society.
FREE Kindle Editon July 20-24, 2023!
In a place nobody goes, outside the cemetery fence, is a blank slab with no “In Memory Of.” Legend says it’s a symbol of unrequited love. Thomas loves Esther, but she isn’t accepted in Canaan because of her bastard birth. After discovering a family secret, Thomas fears he’ll be treated the same. IN MEMORY OF is another example of two teenagers struggling against an unforgiving society in rural Alabama 1933.
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