POETRY FORUM

Baptism

by Frank Phelan on January 26, 2018 :: 0 comments

The priest stood over me
in the name of the father

And he splashed me
in the name of the son

I screeched my protest
and still he splashed me

All stood by at the altar
as he splashed me

in the name of the holy
fucking ghost

I never asked for this appointment
never asked for this anointment

Lamb of God… he without sin…
etcetera,
etcetera,
eternally

Amen.

editors note:

Sin without we, our father, etcetera. Hail mary, that’s a hoot! – mh clay

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A bit about Frank: Frank Phelan is a Dublin born writer living and writing in county Kildare, Ireland. A member of Worldly Worders collective creatives, he writes in long and short form poetry and prose. Frank has been published on MadSwirl.com and was included in the Mad Swirl Best of 2020 Anthology published in February 2021. In May 2020, he was included in the Northern Ireland Mental Arts Festival online, and in June of the same year was commissioned by the Community Radio Forum of Ireland to write and record a piece for International Community Radio Day.

Frank has been heard reading poetry and performing spoken word at many open mic nights as well as poetry gatherings via Zoom across the UK and Ireland and has read many times on local radio in Dublin. He also read his poem selected for the Mad Swirl Best of Anthology 2020 at the online launch by Mad Swirl in Texas in March 2021.

Frank was the winner of the Together FM ‘Ballyfermot 70th Birthday’ commemorative poetry competition in 2018 and was invited to read as part of Ireland’s Culture Night 2019. He has been published in the Blue Nib lit mag, Cork Evening Echo, and was shortlisted for the Kanturk Arts Festival for flash fiction in 2018.

Frank has a life-long love of music and radio and works in media training and radio documentary making. Currently he is planning several film productions of his poetry.