Dank thurible
of oil and pine;
A congregation
draped in dust:
paddles, oars,
and mouldy sails;
surfboards, lawn chairs,
bits and bobs.
Rakes in the rafters.
Rats on the roof.
A crack in the floor
to the dungeon’s door.
A splash away
from the boiling lake.
Frank William Finney is a Massachusetts poet and retired lecturer who taught literature in Thailand from 1995 to 2020. He is a joint winner of the Letter Review Prize in Poetry ( May-June 2023). His poems have appeared in numerous journals including Asylum Floor, Blue Bottle Journal, Penumbra, and Unsettling Reads. His chapbook The Folding of the Wings (FLP Books) was published in 2022.