An Irish Blessing
for my father
May the Lord put you in a witness protection program where the Devil can’t find you.
May you always find yourself in the flow of traffic, and may the slower drivers stay
the hell out of your way. May your hair remain red enough to refract harmful UV rays.
May your appetite be hearty and the waistband of your trousers slack. May there be
no household project to ever get the better of you. May you shit out the colon cancer
if it starts to grow back, and then may the doctors go broke trying to find anything else
wrong with you. May the church parishioners listen in rapt attention to your readings
and your grandchildren hear your stories without any fidgeting. May you grow just
absent-minded enough to forget cross words. May your buddies from Korea stay out
of the obituaries. May your partner be there to chide you if you start to become morbid.
May you find samples at every supermarket and long-lost treasures at every yard sale.
May your coffin be constructed of toothpicks from fine dinners you haven’t yet eaten.
May winter cold melt in your breath. May the road ahead be soft enough for slippers,
and may the Good Lord reserve for you a fine pair of size thirteens.
Download the podcast (reading by David C. Wallace)
M.V. Montgomery’s first collection of poems, Strange Conveyances, will be published by the Plain View Press. A second book, a pamphlet of historical poems titled Joshu Holds a Press Conference, will be published in 2010 by the Conversation Paperpress.
qarrtsiluni 
What may have been a fine, dark and strident poem is softened by the blessing and Wallace’s endearing reading of it. Thank you.