To sprout from these seeds: all a question of interpretion, a matter of blemish, a blot on the mind…a whole host of Hims in motile miniature: hurtling spermatozoa, with their own yarmulkes, grown spiraling payos already and curly beards that snare them into stains.
What seems to be the problem? asks which doctor, is the problem. Adolescence. Anything I can do about it?
I can pay today in cash.
1628: in the front seat of the limousine,
1748: and then again in the limo’s rear as He’s returning,
1856: in the widest hallway of the Great Hall on the way to do this in the toilet,
2035: then, while breaking bread in the Commissary enormous and alone, Him indulging singlehandedly,
2205: and then again between the pages of His only evening prayerbook, Arvit it’s called while faking its devotion,
2337: into His own yarmulke, finally it’s late, and thankfully white, which He replaces atop His head then, to sleep another day…
And for all these sins and for many more, O so many more of them unto sheer unaccountability — for these sins unto even the omissions therein, and then for all of their sins obtaining, too, You should forgive Him, Thou shalt, O so pleased with yourself, do us all a favor, will you, please…forgive.
Forgive Him for His
Apathy.
Forgive Him for His
B .
Forgive Him His
C .
Forgive Him His
D .
Forgive Him for His
E .
Forgive Him His
F .
Forgive Him for His
G .
Forgive Him for His
H .
Forgive Him His
I .
Forgive Him His
J .
His
And TEN (10) is the number of the toes on His feet. And NINE is the number of the pimples on His knees. And EIGHT is the number of the wens on His thighs.
Forgive Him His
Ken, kenosis, keptstatus…
Forgive Him for His
Laxity, laziness…
Forgive Him for His
Machinations…
And SEVEN is the number of the foreskins He’s shed today alone. And SIX is the number of the hairs encircling His navel. And FIVE is the number of the hairs encircling each one of His nipples.
Forgive him O Lord of Hosts,
Thou Horde of Losts our forgiver forever…
Forgive Him for His Necrophilia, though latent — practiced exclusively with incarnations of His sisters, and His mother, which only occasionally, when and if He asks them to, fool Him.
Forgive Him His
Onanism.
Forgive Him His
Persnicketyness…as to which
pleasure’s which.
And FOUR is the number of the whiteheads on His neck. And THREE is the number of the blackheads on His nose. And TWO is the number of the ulcers in His eyes.
Forgive Him His
Q.
Forgive Him His
R.
Forgive Him for His
S.
Forgive Him for His
T.
Forgive Him His
U.
Forgive Him for His
V.
Forgive Him His
W.
Forgive Him His
X.
Forgive Him for His
Y.
Forgive Him for the sake of His
Zion.
And ONE…
O forgive Him our Horde of Hosts,
Thou Lord of Losts,
Who art in Leaven—
O let us be risen, too!
And let us say,
AMEN!
2
A miasma of gray puff and cloud congestion, an exhaustion overhanging the water, which is ice…everything that’s not burning has already burnt. Ash has fled the air under the headcovering of night.
It’s earliest morning, and through its darkness waning an apparition comes forward, anomalous because it’s dark itself amid dawn; it comes starkly, with unrelenting drive, with pitiless force, as if the blackest god in the sky; it pierces the cloudbank, a ray of negative light, then screeches sideways, hisses, honks, comes to rest at Ben’s feet. It’s a limousine, a new one or the Joysey old repaired. Frank Gelt emerges from the gloom, holding open its door. Hamm lumbers from behind, bows for Ben His head and stumbles Him inside, choking, barely breathing from the fume. He’s veiled, still; He can’t use His eyes, His lids give only black. Again with the veil, it’s precautionary, not that it doesn’t also make for laudable mystery, suspenseful. A thing. Doors shut, lock. And then the limo, a refitted chariot charred with sunrise’s flame gone out, wheels around, heads to return in the direction of its arrival: straight ahead, star-bound, fading at a falling skid out over the ice without yield, hurtling offIsland, unstoppably fast, deathbringing, leadenfooted out over the sand over the ice then over the slick skin of tar.
