I can’t call Him God anymore
I can’t write hello, imagined being in my head there floating
as if awaiting my words rapt to come down and grant my every wish
nor waiting, to see if I have aligned to His grand plan so
the perfect miracle would (finally) descend into my life.
I realize I sound pretty angry here
rejecting a lifetime of tradition as if there were a replacement for the space it took up
well, there is, so there’s that
replacement
what’s in front of me.
the moment as it stands sure wind outside, negative temperatures threatening the floorboards
snow scooped from streets flung wide into the sidewalks
this though is not a God
it is nature doing what it does
naturally right in front of me, us, present reality
no wishing for saving
nor hope for a passing
or prayers for salvation will change it
I can be grateful for the roof not blowing off
or the dog not freezing her paws and
our car starting despite the subzero
without a God
The roof stays on or it doesn’t
the dog suffers or quickly comes back inside
the car starts because I used antifreeze
present that’s all there is
that is all I’ve got and it is enough for me today
and if I need to give it a name to praise it like a god then
it makes a lot more sense to do this, this present, than to
praise the place where hope is
something waited for like a futuristic landscape
we need only sit and wait for its arrival
I’m going out to shovel the snow off those sidewalks now
there, that’s my god; present work called for and
done.