Slain in the Spirit

He grabs them by the head and like a vice
squeezed hard, shoved them away,
their graceless landing
almost lost amid the shouts of
halleluiah and amen.
As if struck down by the hand of God
himself, they collapse backward
on the stage relieved to surrender
into whatever out reached arms are waiting
All their ailments forgotten,
even if for only a second,
limp and useless to the world,
Sunday-best ragdolls with no bones.

Hearts open, some shaking,
dragging limbs and crutches,
hearing aids that hear only the noise
of the world, hey line up

These are the old ladies in the front
pews of the church on weekday mornings
the coffee servers at bingo, arthritic
soup kitchen ladlers, counters of discarded
clothing, of dented canned goods,
the old blood of parish meetings
the tired-givers, the cooks,
the ones who put away the chairs
and tables after the feast,
the ones who pass on the wine
in the cup, fearing
there may not be enough
for everyone.

*Tony Fusco has a Masters Degree in Creative Writing from Southern Connecticut State University. He is the 2005 editor The Connecticut River Review the journal of the Connecticut Poetry Society, and Caduceus, the poetry anthology of the Yale Medical Group Art Place. He has been editor of the Southern News and the poetry anthologies High Tide and Sounds and Waves of West Haven. His work has or will soon appear in: the Connecticut Review, Louisiana Literature, the Red Rock Review, The South Carolina Review, The Paterson Review, Freshwater Review, Folio, Elm, Long River Run, Twilight's Ending, Laurels, Beanfeast, Vintage, Chiron, Lips and the Orphic Lute. His book Jessie's Garden published by Negative Capability Press in 2004 has been nominated for the Connecticut Center for the Book's book award. His poetry has won prizes in several contests including: The Sunken Garden Poetry Prize, The Alan Ginsberg Poetry Contest, The Eve Cummings Poetry Prize, The Leslie Leeds Contest, The Southern Connecticut Graduate Poetry Contest. He is a member of the Connecticut Poetry Society, the New England Poetry Club and the Elm Writers group. He has served on several panels, as contest judge and on workshops at various writer's conferences. Tony produces West Shore Poets a television poetry series at CTV, works for the Yale Medical Group and lives in West Haven, CT.