Read Suzy Zeus Gets Organized for Free Online

GETS SURPRISED
     
    Suzy starts to read the paper.
    Spends a lot of time in bed.
    Rises slowly in the shadows,
    kind of like a loaf of bread.
    Suzy does some finger painting—
    lots of blue with bits of red.
    Suzy lies upon her sofa,
    Suzy lies beside the phone.
    Sometimes Suzy Zeus lies supine,
    sometimes Suzy Zeus lies prone.
    When it rings, it isn't William.
    More like from the Twilight Zone.
    Having saved the "Father Wanted"
    from an ancient New York Press,
    Bitterino, on a pay phone—
    sounded like a total mess.
    Suzy said to come and see her.
    Said it was the same address.
    SUZY GETS A RINSE
     
    Suzy Zeus poured Bit some coffee.
    Bit was looking awful low.
    Like she had no pal to turn to,
    like she had no place to go.
    Needed food and needed friendship,
    needed sleep and needed dough.
    Bit wants change and wants it pronto.
    Understanding's not enough.
    What good's seeing what's repeating,
    knowing it's the same old stuff?
    Bit was tired, sad, and angry,
    looking inward, looking tough.
    Suzy has a long, long hallway.
    Suzy has a rocking chair.
    Still hears Harry where he isn't
    (like, his footstep on the stair).
    Bitterino brought her brushes.
    Spent three days on Suzy's hair.
    SUZY GETS GOING
     
    Suzy's sleeping. Suzy's cooking.
    Olive oil and lemon zest.
    In the mirror Suzy's looking
    at a friend from back out West.
    Suzy's better.
    Time to put her
    higher powers to the test.
    Suzy wants her line to God back.
    Suzy wants to feel awake.
    Suzy wants to feel a world that
    isn't brave and new and fake.
    Suzy ponders in her heart—can't
    she control a manic break?
    Suzy took her meds on Tuesday,
    half on Wednesday, none today.
    Suzy's mind is quicker now. To
    take your pills and then to pray?
    Stuffing earplugs in your ears. She
    wants to hear what God will say.
    SUZY GETS THE PICTURE
     
    Father Robert preaches welcome,
    action, risk, and ruthless love.
    As she wanders, Suzy wonders
    if it's this he's thinking of.
    Suzy's lashed her soul to Him: the
    talons on the Holy Dove.
    Suzy nears the midnight Hudson,
    where her pills will meet their fate.
    Look—St. Jude's is full of candles.
    Boy, St. Jude's is open late.
    No one's shut the wooden doors, and
    no one's closed the iron gate.
    Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle,
    Of the mighty conflict sing . ..
    Voices waft from all the windows.
    In the yard the smell of spring.
    Tell the triumph — Suzy enters.
    Not much light . . . thy tribute bring.
    Rank on rank the congregation's
    squeezed in tight beneath the dome.
    This is like those crowds of tourists
    visiting the Pope in Rome.
    Then the hymn dissolves in silence.
    Few by few the folks head home.
    Everybody's very quiet.
    No one laughs, or breathes a word.
    Maybe she can ask on Sunday
    what it was, the hymn she heard.
    Suzy knows the people leaving.
    Yes, she knows at least a third.
    Dana's there, with Sam and Michael.
    Lee is walking out with Tim.
    Rachel must have had the baby . . .
    Hard to tell—the light's so dim.
    William's boyfriend looks exhausted.
    Steven's with the other Jim.
    Toward the back, inside the chapel,
    stands a special silver urn.
    Burlap covers all the pictures.
    Watchers watch the candles burn.
    Could this be her mission starting?
    Will her brain begin to churn?
    People kneel, or sit, in silence.
    Suzy wonders what they hear.
    If they're hearing. Suzy wonders
    if this happens every year.
    God is there, but saying nothing.
    Maybe not quite there, but near.
    In the dripping of the candles
    Suzy doesn't hear a call.
    Suzy doesn't see a vision
    in the wood grain on the wall.
    Please don't let her task be small-time.
    Please don't let her task be small.
    Suzy prays to get directions.
    Suzy prays to get a sign.
    Suzy prays for more support: a
    tougher shell, a stronger spine.
    Suzy wants to battle evil—
    things like war, and Columbine.
    Then a wreck, a skinny neck, his
    eyes a tangle, hair the same.
    Suzy knows she knows those eyes, and
    then she knows she knows his name.
    Charlie, dressed to look