Poems & Prayers

“Doubt Faith” 

This is a straightforward poem that contrasts faith with doubt. Doubt may seem “logical and reasonable” (Line 2). In contrast, faith requires something more than the rational mind can produce. Faith cannot banish doubt entirely, but enables people to overcome its worst effects. 

The poem ends in the imperative mood, with the prayer, “May our faith outshine our doubts” (Line 5), which suggests that faith is the sun that lights our lives. This metaphor is also suggested by the illustration above the poem, which looks like the rays of the sun. 

“Sometimes”

McConaughey straightforwardly presents the many reasons that he prays. The reasons exhibit humility; none are egotistical or self-regarding. He prays for guidance, confession, courage or to “remember a learned lesson” (Line 4). Other reasons, explained in the second stanza, are to find relief from some issue that has been worrying him or to find forgiveness. In the third stanza, he reveals that sometimes he prays for change and the courage to make it happen, which would allow him to move on to a better place in life. Stanza 4 notes that sometimes, prayer is simply “a conversation / with my conscience” (Lines 13-14) as he evaluates his beliefs and allows greater amounts of “Truth” (Line 15) to emerge. Seeking to uncover his blind spots, focus on beauty, and correct his aims wherever necessary is the focus of Stanza 5. Finally, McConaughey prays so he can realize that divine law is not something to oppose, but a “daring proposition” (Line 24) to which he must aspire. 

“Heaven or Not” 

In Section 8, the emphasis is mostly on the need for and validity of faith; however, in here, doubt—in this case, agnosticism on the matter of the afterlife—is put forward as reasonable. 

In answering the title’s question, McConaughey reveals a certain cynicism. For him, religion uses the idea of heaven to “sell” (Line 6) people faith, promising that their misery will end in paradisiacal life after death. The word “sell” seemingly rebukes religious propaganda. 

Instead, McConaughey prefers a level of uncertainty. He admits that he is not convinced of this aspect of Christian doctrine: “And what if there is nothing there? Nothing to / hope for? No next? / I do not know” (Lines 8-10). The admission is blunt and unadorned by qualifications. 

However, having doubt about one aspect of religious doctrine is not the same as lacking belief entirely. For McConaughey, it is impossible to make progress in life with “no hope or faith in anything” (Line 12). He therefore recommends that people find something “to look / forward to and continually have faith in and chase” (Lines 16-17), whether heaven exists “or not” (Line 19). This conclusion is in keeping with the philosophy of the collection as a whole: do whatever it takes to keep moving forward. 

“Heavyweights”

The poem is about the battles between believers and atheists; the title is a reference to the most serious boxing matches, or those between heavyweight contenders. 

McConaughey portrays atheists as petulant and obstinate: They say “no” (Line 1) to faith with narrow minds. In contrast, believers ask their opponents to rethink their position kindly, with the word “please” (Line 2), and by pointing out how faith addresses itself to the universal condition: “[W]e say human” (Line 3). 

However, this battle is hard to win. It is not easy to convey faith to others; it cannot be neatly packaged and “sold over the countertop” (Line 4) like a consumable. Rather, believing means being willingness to deal with life’s complexities and contradictions about “how we’re made” (Line 6). 

The fight for faith comes with wounds: “[M]outh guard recommended, blood will be drawn” (Line 12). It will take all the courage a person can muster. There are, however, different ways of showing strength, especially by replacing arrogance with humility, and thus finding “the grace to see each other in ourselves” (Line 17), or accepting the common humanity that binds together believers and nonbelievers. 

“Hey God”

The colloquial greeting captures the reader’s attention; this is not the usual way to address the Almighty. The point, however, is that the speaker feels ready to be entirely himself in approaching God; rather than couching his prayers in prescribed terminology, he would rather commune using the folksy language that more readily conveys his true self. 

The speaker feels only half-committed to his relationship with God, calling himself a “Mr. In Between” (Line 7). He hopes that God can accommodate such a hybrid: a person who is neither a monk, or professional believer, nor “a bum” (Line 6), or unaffiliated and worthless. 

The tone of respectful informality continues as the speaker considers the appropriate times and places to pray: “By the way, does it count when I talk to you while / drinkin’ at the bar?” (Lines 9-10). The poem ends with a sincere request for the humility to seek God and the courage not to be afraid. 

In a note below the poem, McConaughey adds that he wrote it when he was having difficulty “believing in myself and forgiving myself at the same time.”