poem: sister on a first date

the Americanness of being — we could never remake the
country in our image! ask him, tonight, what kind of prot
estant he is, we will take Baptist Evangelical more hesitantly Methodist
or Presbyterian. what branch of Lutheran, what does he
think about the split. his best friend is looking for a good Catholic
girl to take home, universal church universal century
you know how that goes. and yet – small oilfield town, three oak
high gilt Catholic churches, the nicest ones, made when
the drilled-country was young and man sloughed for grace.
in two days it is Saint Lucy’s day; my family does not
understand — exclusion, the Unity of Being necessitating
paperwork. ask him what sort of theology we are to expect
from him at Christmas dinner, if any at all — you said he “does nicotine”
what at least will I need to stomach through.
but i loose the plot — i wish us all great health — mine and hers
and sad matriarchal coven extended, many people in glow
around a candle-tree.