liturgy()

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nailed_wall.flat;
soul.stretched(upside_down);
approximation.of_cross;

eyes.fixed(on.confessional.cubicle);
hope.fastened(at.waist);
tongue.retrained;
furnace.contained(beneath_skin);
already.recited;

your.stare.calibrates(my.chest);
methodical;
poison.selected;
i.sway—controlled;

prayer.self_answering;
gentle_violence.spread(on.rosary.thread);

tried_on(fevered.cleavages.in.packed_chapels);
not.yours;
never.mine;

steam_rise.mergers;
collisions.logged;
rated(out_of_ten);
pressed.with(doom_pending.iron);
still—
none.of.them.her;

wanted(lace.sanctified);
bandaged_with(pulse);
bare_in(hush);
choir_stall(blunt_witness)—
nauseous;
won't.interfere;

wounds.open;
one.draft(absorbed);
thirst—
liturgical;

many.worshippers(died.that.way);
slow.dining(death);

every.fourth.week;
you.scan(her.bleed);
term.applied: sacrifice;

you.believed(in.me.as.god);
i.responded(as.one);

pendulum.slowing;
nave.ribbed(in.veins);
dose.controlled(sacrament.proofed);
devotion(kneeling.on.fours);
lines.crossed;
doctrine.distorted;
saturated;

faith.spilled(across.cubicle_floor);
pause.mistaken(for.control);
she.walks.out—half-gone;
milk-pale;
red-lipped;
eyes.glazed(to.mosaic.floor);

i.excel(at.folding);
i.lock(my.door.twice);

canon.prevented;
congregation.dispersed;

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[intro.inspo: Unborn Madness by Bertold Lagaro]

[image.credit: Father Patrick Moore And Our Lady by Bettmann]