Jerusalem

Hot metal
poured from the sky
and the casting molds cried out
in 1968 this was a dangerous part of the plant
I rode by in a forklift
with a skinny Jehovah’s Witness
he looked like William Blake
in the dirty fog
he said
Henry Ford was the devil
and this was hell
this industrial revolution
that’s all he talked about
he wanted to die
because he was already saved
and in Jerusalem
don’t waste your prayers on me
he said—
the next morning
some guys saw him before he punched out
handling knives and forks in the cafeteria
like a conjurer
and calling everything by another name

By John Stupp

Biography:

John Stupp is the author of the 2007 chapbook The Blue Pacific and the 2015 full-length collection Advice from the Bed of a Friend both by Main Street Rag. His new book How Tuesday Began will be published by Finishing Line Press. Recent poetry has appeared or will be appearing in The Pittsburgh Poetry Review, By&By Poetry, LitMag and Off The Coast. He lives near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.