I don’t know how to pray
I told Mr. Rogers
He was sitting there in his cardigan
canvas sneakers on his feet
and I realized that those accessories
were his monk robes
and rosary beads
He was a TV star
and a saint
He leaned over and confided that he believed that
Cookie Monster was real
not a puppet—
real
I was there to interview him
Instead I told him my troubles
I sunk into him like a child sinking
into his mother’s lap
I told him about my cousin’s recent suicide
He let me talk
until I’d talked myself out
Then he suggested I pray
I told him: I don’t know how to pray
He said: It’s not hard
not complex
You need only three words
I love you, I thought
Thank you, God, said Mr. Rogers
This is the only prayer
you’ll ever need
Mitchell Krochmalnik Grabois
Mitchell Krochmalnik Grabois was born in the Bronx and now splits his time between Denver and a one-hundred-and-twenty-year-old, one room schoolhouse in Riverton Township, Michigan. His short fiction and poems have appeared in hundreds of literary magazines in the U.S. and internationally. He is a regular contributor to The Prague Revue. He has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, most recently for his story “Purple Heart” published in The Examined Life in 2012, and for his poem. “Birds,” published in The Blue Hour, 2013. Grabois’s novel, Two-Headed Dog, is available for all e-readers for 99 cents. Click for Kindle. Click for Nook. Click for the print edition.
Photo: Jim Judkis
Website: http://www.jimjudkis.com/
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