African American Poetry: A Digital Anthology

Allison Davis, "Minister" (1928) (2nd poem with this title)

Minister

You make your living
By talking through a service 
About God,
And rejoice equally
To get a marriage or 
A funeral.

Have you convinced yourself yet
That this whole business of a church 
And confident speaking to God, with you leading, 
Is not a madman’s game?

And aren’t they fools to be paying you a salary 
To speak to God for them,
When your thoughts are always
Of a pretty wife
And a larger church?


Published in The Crisis, March 1928