Scott Simpson · Poetry

Narrowly Unwritten Dogma

Restoration Blues · source pages 9, 10

The original line breaks, stanza spacing, and placement are preserved. Long lines scroll horizontally.

Source page 9

The worst kind of creed

is the one that isn’t written down,

the kind you learn by osmosis,

absorbed in pews and potlucks,

passed in whispers

between the lines of Sunday sermons.

No one admits it’s there—

it’s just how things are,

how they’ve always been.

The rules stay unwritten,

so no one has to defend them,

plausible deniability.

When they fired me,

they said it was a “difference of vision”—

nothing personal, of course,

just a matter of direction.

But we all knew the truth—

you don’t get rid of heretics

by quoting scripture directly.

You just pull the plug quietly,

hope they go without a scene.

Source page 10

I tried not to make one—

packed up my books,

left with a handshake,

a smile stretched tight as doctrine.

They’d taught me how to out-righteous

the righteous

Outside, the questions welcomed me—

wild, unbaptized, unafraid,

daring me to give them voice.