i need jesus and mary and joseph

and robert llewelyn and the beads

and isabel abbott and coffee

and canadian poets in form

and prosody and sex and woman

and unwrapping the christmas presents

and bringing joy to a blear-eyed friend

and presence and mystery and sunlight

and a thin film of ice on the pavement

in front of the police station

and i need an end to querulousness

and i need an end to criticism

that is little more than invective and deprecation

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

or maybe painfully if the situation require

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 giving and receiving hugs

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 ma souveraine

i need my doctorfriend in seattle to brighten my universe

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 buchinger 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 validation

i need new tricks i need the trick of sunlight on newfallen snow

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 mary's learning i need elena's patient attention

i need elena's learning i need mary's patient attention

i need the harbour of hilary's compassion

i need the excellence of linda

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