Maureen Kingston

Prayers from the Void

After Kader Attia’s installation “Ghost” (2007)

At the celebration of my brother’s life. Entryway hugs. Handshakes. Condolences. Such a dutiful son. The good really do die young. Later, the congregation slides from pews to kneelers, backs bent in repentance. The posture’s foreign and familiar, a phantom spasm from an amputated limb.

fatima, mary, me

How I once lived it all—outer erasing inner—losing my individuality in murmuration.

pour tea for one another

Ten years ago. Thanksgiving Day. The smell of oysters, chestnuts, and sage. I make the big announcement in the kitchen. I don’t believe in God anymore. Silence. Mother nods, crumples the tin-foil tent from the turkey breast, tosses it away. As easy as that. Excommunicated.

kintsugi

---

Note: Kader Attia’s installation “Ghost” can be seen here.

---

About the Author

Maureen Kingston’s poems and prose have appeared or are forthcoming in Failed Haiku: A Journal of English Senryu, Gone Lawn, Gyroscope Review, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Maudlin House, Modern Poetry Quarterly Review, Sledgehammer Lit, Unbroken Journal, and Whiskey Island. A few of her poems and prose pieces have also been nominated for Best of the Net and Pushcart awards.

---