Holy Mary grant me
a firkin of butter a peck of green pease
a quart of oysters a kenning of corn
one thousand from the Pope two thousand
from the Queen a fleet of kebab meat
from the Sultan of Turkey
outdoor relief Robert Peel’s dog bones
plantain nettle dandelion dock
passage to Boston exile’s workhouse
extreme unction
Providence grant me
epidemics of righteous hunger
lamp-eyed bloat-bellied babes
the ship of the green cathedral
ribbed with papist bones
a clear view to atlantic vacant possession
freehold settled on English ermine
hedge funds holding companies
public-private partnerships the occult bankers
of Edmund Spenser Mobuto Sese Seko
bullioned bridgework pliered from the jaws
of Viennese volljude the krugerrand
counting-house of the third Earl of Lucan
who would not breed paupers to pay priests
cleared dropsied kernes to ocean
and shipped in sheep
insolence and riches Bangladeshi slaves
clipping lawns with nail scissors
ground tigerbone sex games wheat futures traded
from Tigray and Wollo youth wealth
and groovy the wisdom of monkeys
Pilate’s spotless hands
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