In Andrew Hudgins' poem, Praying Drunk, the speaker describes the act of writing as something important, mysterious, and difficult when sober, and compares it to the act of prayer. , which, for him, is just as complicated. The entire poem is presented in the form of a prayer, which provides insightful insight into the motivations of faith, the search for truth, and the struggle to accept them. When these ideas are applied to the act of writing, they reveal the complex struggle a writer faces in developing confidence in their own ideas, while maintaining a degree of credibility that will encourage audiences to care about what 'he wrote. The poem begins with the speaker addressing God as “Our Father who art in heaven” (1.1). If this prayer is a metaphor for writing, it would seem that he is actually addressing the audience, the group of people who will ultimately judge his writing and ideas. The casual nature of the prayer is partly explained by the fact that the speaker is indeed drunk on red wine, but also by the fact that the writer is trying to establish a relationship with his audience: a relationship with his readers is important to the success of a writer. He thanks his readers for red wine, because they are the ones who have allowed him to maintain a lifestyle in which he can afford wine, and this wine acts as the liquid courage he needs to write in the first place. in this poem he states that prayer follows a “simple form” because it “keeps things in order” (1.7-8). This can also be said of writing; at least the type of writing that follows a prescribed formula, such as the sonnet or the five-paragraph essay. Writers often use these structures, because the methods are established in the middle of a paper. He wouldn't take any risks. Even with his prayer and wine-induced courage, the speaker continues to despair. He compares himself to "the poor fool who wanders in the air and then looks down" and "underneath his feet he sees eternity", when he realizes that "suddenly his shoes don't work anymore on nothingness” (5.12-15). It is as if he is surrendering to the reality that if he moves beyond the safe boundaries of tried-and-tested approaches to writing, there is no magic potion that will guarantee his success. Nevertheless, he seems willing to take a chance and, ironically, he does so with this stylistically unconventional prayer. In a desperate attempt to remind his readers that he was once considered a good writer in case this poem failed to meet their traditional standards, he makes one final request: "As I fall, remember me.” (5.16).