God

God.

I’ve seen God in a ripped sky

bleeding over a volcano’s crown

I’ve seen God in your hands

I’ve seen God in your mouth

in cool water

that gave a shiver to my back

the eel that opened his jaw

20 feet below

my legs

as I kicked

toward that crust

of surface

I’ve seen God in a child

who demanded bubble gum

and waved the oxen

back to their water

dutiful hooves

tiny hand

with command

in her mitt

soccer ball kicked

through a busted palace

as bodies burned

on a riverbank

where women wash

their fruit

their skin

their young

I’ve seen God

between the firewood

hot lights that scorched

a body flammable

with purpose

a dusty floor

of hundred year old wood

a creature

broken free

by a dead man’s words

I’ve seen God on the lake

you spoke of

and never saw with my eyes

a fable

some dreams are more gratifying

than what physics will find.

listen

I hear the water lapping

at your feet

sun kissed

I can go there any time

I’ve seen God on a preacher’s tongue

a beggar’s thumb

and between her thighs

knelt at the altar between her knee caps

God was feeling her cum

God was the crack of her laugh

I’ve seen God in the cataracts

the ridges of a back

the junkie looking to score

bludgeoned grapes

that fell from the cart

a foreign seashore

violent rain I feared

would drown me

in that hut.

and that trunk

that devoured my smell

never to forget

I felt seen

in ways that can’t be blinked

with sight.

that slate steel hide

I found God in your ears

a mother bear with cubs

headlights in their eyes

let nature stop us in our tracks

take the right of way, we said.

we marveled at our fear

and the tumble of those footsteps

in snow

a spider just crawled across my keyboard

I tried to flick her off

I hadn’t meant to kill her

keys smudged with guts

she’s God too

I’m sorry

I’m still learning to yield

to you

nature

teach me

teach me about your God.