Televangelist

[ My father says ] I never seen a man do the work of God like Daddy did 

from his kitchen chair, phone receiver btween his shoulder & ear, six-foot cord tangled round  

his mess of walkin canes, leaned aginst the doorframe, & [ when my grandfather’s lucky, 

my father says ] he’s blessed, he’s talkin up the salesperson on the other end, sayin  

how’s yer day goin, young lady, no, I don’ needa new vacuum, but tell me,  

what makes yers so special, & Daddy’s waitin like a snake in grass [ my father says sweetly ]  

& jus near the end of the call, he says, so dyou call Jesus Christ yer Lord & Savior, & I’d hear  

the other end muffle out an answer, so he asks, well, dyou wanna ask Jesus  

into your heart, He’ll take all yer sins & wash em white as snow, & I never seen  

nothin like it, he’d out-sold the seller [ throws his head back & laughs ] Lord ave mercy,  

he wasn buyin vacuums or hair regrowth serum but he had em buyin Christ,  

why, he’d reckon he’d brought souls to Christ in more’n eleven countries  

[ oh, we thought this could save us ] & when he finally lets the salesperson go, Daddy says bye-bye now,  

I’ll see you in heaven, my new sister in Christ  [ I love these men ] [ what could save me ]