A Prayer for the Vessel

by Carolyn Adams / November 16th, 2025

A precious thing is being destroyed,
taken apart by degrees.
Someone is losing what’s dear to them.
Someone else is taking it
and giving it to another,
who will, in turn, come to love it.
It’s the law of subtraction.
How property is exchanged.
No, stolen.
How lives are altered.
No, broken.
How culture is made.
No, lost.
I’m a filled vessel,
brimming with the right and wrong
of it all.
I shouldn’t be here.
But after all of it,
after all this time,
here I am.

Carolyn Adams’ poetry and art have appeared in Steam Ticket, Cimarron Review, Evening Street Review, Inflection Review, and Blueline Magazine, among others. She is the editor and publisher of the Oregon Poetry Calendar.  Having authored four chapbooks, her full-length volume, Going Out to Gather has been published by Fernwood Press.  Her poetry has been nominated multiple times for both Best of the Net and a Pushcart prize. Read other articles by Carolyn.

This article was posted on Sunday, November 16th, 2025 at 8:00am and is filed under Poetry.