Amos J. Hunt
Amos J. Hunt is a full-time tutor and the founding editor of Grub Street Grackle. His writing has appeared in The Shandean, Moreana, Quatrain Fish, and Ancient Paths Literary Magazine. He lives with his family in Irving, TX.
A Speech in Gratitude for the Ways of God
Amos J. Hunt
Issue 58, Autumn 2019
“Every little nit is a gift,” I said,
lying, though in the mystery of God,
I knew it must be true. It must be true,
for–look here, even if it weren’t so,
either there is no God to do the giving,
in which case every single creature living
must be a god unto itself, and I
would thus be left to take responsibility
for nits and other things I blame Him for;
or He sent them to punish me–and sure,
a punishment sounds bad, but then again,
it’s meant to leave me better off; so, then,
a gift indeed. But I did not believe,
for all I thought I’d reasoned out his love.
My aching back, stooped as it had to be
to root through each child’s hair, my drooping eye,
weary from late night laundry, my raw scalp
took no comfort from such theodical help.
Yet, comforted I am, now that it’s done,
not by any wise words, but by a ton
of steaming, greasy nachos and a beer,
which marvelously saturate my care.
Who really knows why anything is planned.
Thank God I do not need to understand.
Pantoum of the Fig Tree
Amos J. Hunt
Issue 57, Summer 2019
As squirrels and jays and other filching rogues
get to the figs before they’re even ripe,
I rob myself of peace. God only knows
how little needs my soul these restless nights.
Get to the figs before they’re even ripe.
Either you reap them now or lose them all.
How little needs my soul these restless nights.
How vexed the light of day, how rote and small.
Either you reap them now or lose them all.
Tomorrow is a chewed-up stump of fruit.
How vexed the light of day, how rote and small.
By night I sing the sight of something new.
Tomorrow is a chewed-up stump of fruit.
From nowhere scores of ants will swarm its neck.
By night I sing the sight of something new,
nor mind if in the morning I’m a wreck.