IF IT IS WINTER
by Louie Crew
If it is winter, be sure to thaw
the holy water in the stoop
under the belfry.
If it is summer,
try to have some of those gaudy fans
from the monument makers,
and open the windows.
Let 6 strong sisters
bear my pall,
and one proper sissy
serve as verger or censer.
Stay with the text
of the Prayer Book exclusively:
it is all that any quean requires.
Show them how to squeeze
when you share the Peace.
Smell good. Comb your hair.
Be modest.
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Louie Crew, an Alabama native, 75, is an emeritus professor at Rutgers and lives in East Orange, NJ, with Ernest Clay, his husband of 38 years. Editors have published more than 2,000 of Crew’s poems and essays. He has written four poetry volumes, including Lutibelle’s Pew (Dragon Disks, 1990), and Queers! for Christ’s Sake! (Dragon Disks, 2003).