Third Annual Wild Violet Writing Contest Winners (2005)

Poetry — First Place

Bobbi Dykema Katsanis has had work appear in numerous publications, most of them too small to have been noticed. She studied theology in college, because it seemed like the closest thing to not having to choose a major at all.

My Father Was a Catholic Jazz Musician
By Bobbi Dykema Katanis

 

Say one Our Father, two Hail Marys,
and listen to twelve recordings of John Coltrane.

Dip your fingers in the font of holy water,
cross yourself,
make your way to a pew,
genuflect, take your seat,
and meditate on the perfection of Thelonious' chords

For a confirmation name, you have some choices:
Ornette; Dizzy; Django; Duke; or Miles.
We will set a sign and a seal upon your forehead
of a saxophone,
communion
is the reed between your lips.

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