{"id":7928,"date":"2023-04-06T10:32:17","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T17:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/?page_id=7928"},"modified":"2025-03-08T00:31:36","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T08:31:36","slug":"praying-mantis-poem","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/articles-poems-by-jim-carroll\/praying-mantis-poem\/","title":{"rendered":"Praying Mantis – Poem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Poem by Jim Carroll, from Praying Mantis<\/em> and Fear of Dreaming<\/i>
Photo by Tamela Glenn, from\u00a0Praying Mantis, <\/i>1991<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Praying<\/figure>
\n

Look at it
It’s all blank
The face in the photograph
Too dark for features
But the praying mantis
Just so clear
Its forelegs fingering my hair
And it’s there in focus on my shoulder
It teaches me my true name
It gives me this message:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do not strike the low chord,
Lest its vibration awaken the halls of Maya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It instructs me on the ways when need be to hide
It awakens the serpent inside to throb, to burn
It pulls the arrow from my ear
And it whispers, whispers, whispers a last word
What seems the last vapors of a long dream
Like Baraka wrote, like James Brown sings
Whispers, “please, please, please.”<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Poem by Jim Carroll, from Praying Mantis and Fear of DreamingPhoto by Tamela Glenn, from\u00a0Praying Mantis, 1991 Look at itIt’s all blankThe face in the photographToo dark for featuresBut the praying mantisJust so clearIts forelegs fingering my hairAnd it’s there in focus on my shoulderIt teaches me my true nameIt gives me this message: Do … Continue reading Praying Mantis – Poem<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":4165,"menu_order":10,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[50],"class_list":["post-7928","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-23S","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4031,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-music-and-spoken-word\/spoken-word-lecture-recordings-by-jim-carroll\/praying-mantis\/","url_meta":{"origin":7928,"position":0},"title":"Praying Mantis","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Home > Works > Music & Spoken Word > Spoken Word\/Lecture > Praying Mantis (1991) Praying Mantis By Jim Carroll Giant, 1991 Noble Rot, 2008 (re-issued) Get this on Amazon.com See also: audio clips Tracks: Fragment: Little N.Y. Ode A Day at the Races Times Square's Cage A Child Growing\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9881,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/music-reviews\/review-of-praying-mantis-college-music-journal-1991\/","url_meta":{"origin":7928,"position":1},"title":"Review of\u00a0Praying Mantis – College Music Journal – 1991","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"May 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Praying MantisReview in CMJ New Music Report6 December 1991 Jim Carroll claims all this spoken stuff came \"\u2026off the top of my head, so to speak.\" Unlike the precision of an Eric Bogosian, Carroll's top-of-the-head delivery gives his poems and stories an unusual and pleasurable immediacy as well as an\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4165,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/articles-poems-by-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":7928,"position":2},"title":"Articles & Poems by Jim Carroll","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The Man Who Sold the World.\"\u00a0By Jim Carroll.\u00a0New York Times Book Review, 1 Dec. 2002.Carroll reviews Kurt Cobain's\u00a0Journals: \"It's fascinating like a car wreck, and I, for one, wish that only the music survived his death.\" \"I Shot a Deer.\" By Jim Carroll.\u00a0Gentlemen's Quarterly, January 2002: 113-14.GQ\u00a0asked five writers to\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":199,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/photos-video-audio\/audio-library\/","url_meta":{"origin":7928,"position":3},"title":"Audio Library","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 18, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This website has existed since 1995. Most of the audio selections collected here have been on this site for a very long time. Back in the stone ages a 30-second clip could take 24 hours to download! While eventually I hope to bring this page into the twenty-first century with\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4519,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/jim-carroll-music-and-spoken-word\/spoken-word-lecture-recordings-by-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":7928,"position":4},"title":"Spoken-Word\/Lecture Recordings by Jim Carroll","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"See also: Spoken-Word: Collaborations Pools of MercuryReleased: 1998By: Jim CarrollLabel: MercuryGenre: Music and spoken word Get this album on Amazon Curtis's Charm: Original Motion Picture SoundtrackReleased: 1996By: Music by Mark Korven with songs by My Brilliant BeastLabel: Rabid Dog ProductionsGenre: Film soundtrack Carroll reads \"Curtis's Charm,\" from Fear of Dreaming.\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/naropa-university_174.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/naropa-university_174.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/naropa-university_174.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10292,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/research\/performance-reviews\/university-of-kentucky-1996-review-by-paul-mcdonald\/","url_meta":{"origin":7928,"position":5},"title":"University of Kentucky (1996)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"June 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Jim Carroll at University of KentuckyLexington, KY, 29 January 1996Review by\u00a0Paul McDonald I saw JC at UK Monday evening, January 29. The hall seats 800 and was packed to capacity, so my two friends and I sat on the floor in the front. 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