Collection 01.

These poems connect only in the sense that when I wrote each of them, I was thinking about beliefs, religion, and God — what God might be like, how I think about God, and how I imagine God might think of me. These poems collect the stray thoughts of my agnosticism and the very wispy way in which I relate myself to God.

Woman

You are bad

Why am I bad?

Because you are not me

Are you bad?

No I am good

Why are you not bad?

Because I am not you

7 Years

Thank you for this food

You’ve planted in my head

My fruits dried in the sunlight

You allowed my eyes to shed

Thank you for the suffering

That did me all that good

Thank you for the blessings

I never understood

Thank you for everything

Since it was all your call

I’d just wish you’d say something

Anything at all

Let me know you’re doing it

Let me know you aren’t

Let me know you watched it happen

Let me know it stopped.

Sharing Tears

They traveled in the morning

And they traveled in the night

They looked among the stars

And they chased the waves of the water

They told stories to the plants

And kissed the bark of the trees

They laid among the grains of sand

And their tears never stopped

Finally, they got to a place

No different from any other

Except this one had no people

No animals

Nothing

Then someone far away said, “Father, are you there?”

Then someone close said, “Mother, are you listening?”

They wiped some of their tears

And planted it on the others’ cheeks

They said nothing at all

But the others thanked them, bowed, and promised to love no other

Like they loved them

And Them.

They agreed.

Pronoun

I asked God if God loved Me

God said yes

I asked God if God hated Me

God said oh yes

I asked God what God was

God said everything You are not

I asked God how I could become like God

God said by being everything that You are.