"Prayers" by Rae Armantrout

The following poem will appear in the November 10th issue of The New Yorker.  The author, Rae Armantrout , is an American poet and professor at the University of California, San Diego.

Despite its overtly religious title ("Prayers") and use of "resurrection" (2) this poem remains surprisingly secular.  In its immediate lines, "We pray/and the resurrection happens" (1-2) introduces the successful wish-fulfillment of prayer: that which is prayed for is realized.  The repetition of "g" sounds evidences a pattern to the power of prayer.  Aurally, "young" (3), "again" (4), "sniping [...] giggling" (5), "tingly" (6), "ringing" (7), alternating between the hard "g" sound and the "g" at the end of the word the ear grows accustomed to and begins to expect the "g" sound again and again.  This repetition suggests a known or guaranteed outcome to prayer within the poem's first chapter -- a resolve absent in the second.

The key shift in the opening lines of the second chapter is from prayer to "ask" (8).  While the "g" sound is initially present in "thinking" (9) its repetition grows more sporadic and eventually absent ("targets" (11), "recognized" (14), "triangles" (16), "rug" (17), "repeating" (18), "coming" (19)).  Initially there seems promise that to "ask" might yield the same outcome as prayer, but this confidence disappears in the last two stanzas: "The fear/that all of this/will end.//The fear/that it won't" (23-27).  

To "ask" creates an opportunity for either affirmation or denial and this indeterminate response creates fear and anxiety.  "Coming up..." (19) marks a shift from the poem's attempt to sustain and repeat the status quo; suddenly the poem's resolution can only be achieved through discussion.  The reader names a discussion "on the uses of torture" (21-22), but the italicized "this" (24) is overdetermined and representative of many divisive subjects. 

Ultimately, this poem seeks answers.  While textually there is only one prayer, the title "Prayers" is applicable insofar as the poem itself prays for the strength to change modes of interrogation and action.

Prayers

by Rae Armantrout

1. 

We pray

and the resurrection happens.

Here are the young

again,

sniping and giggling,

tingly 

as ringing phones.

2. 

All we ask 

is that our thinking

sustain momentum,

identify targets.

The pressure 

in my lower back

rising to be recognized

as pain.

The blue triangles 

on the rug

repeating.  

Coming up,

a discussion

on the uses of torture.

The fear 

that all this

will end.

The fear

that it won't.