Frank
Frank
Bud Sturguess
Frank?!
Has anybody seen him
He hasn’t responded to my friend request
I met him at Gonzales’ birthday party
in the backyard near the fire
He did his Scooby Doo impression
and he said he didn’t believe in God
But we talked about how much
we both don’t like Joel Osteen
Frank marveled – at least I think he marveled –
when I said, his smile is the devil’s pianissimo,
his chuckle a demon’s overture
We went on about how we both like
Ecclesiastes and Job
and he asked me about the day of my conversion
and I explained I didn’t see it like that
That I don’t see it in words like that
and I told him long ago the Holy Spirit told me
I’d have a very gritty ministry
down to earth, you know
And Frank said he liked that
and went inside to have another beer
and I could join him there and talk some more
But I must have got distracted
waiting for Cecilia to show up
or that girl in the polka dot dress
But he disappeared in the crowd and fire
I haven’t seen Frank since
I was supposed to blow his mind
I was supposed to show him
how funny I could word it
I was gonna use these absurd metaphors
and my Chippendales joke routine
to tell him about the Gospel
and make it something like he’d never heard before
Frank?! I was supposed to show you the light
You know, Blind Willie Johnson was a prophet
so they shut him up in space
and shot him off in a rocket
and said he was just for those who feel kinda lonely
Martin Luther King praised Jesus’ name
so we made ourselves feel okay
by giving him a day in January and a lengthier blog
every fifty years and we pat his body on the head
and say, what a nice man with a nice dream
Am I making sense Frank
am I being succinct and biting and rapier
and artistic and funny and poignant enough
to make you see the light Frank
Have I strayed far enough from
God is good all the time all the time God is good
Have I strayed far enough from
it’s Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve
Am I John the Baptist
are you Herod
Are you perplexed
am I your prisoner
Do you hear me gladly or
am I Samson at the end blind and dancing
for your amusement
Frank?! I was supposed to make you see the light
Bud Sturguess
Writer
Bud is a saved sinner who lives in Amarillo, Texas. He has self-published several books, his latest being the novel Sick Things. His fiction and poetry appear at Spoonie Press, Erato, and Longleaf Review.
Photography by Naraa Inub