God and Oatmeal

Who is the God I believe in?

I used the word “Who”

And on the sixth day,

I realized I

had not Spoken in years

I can find the power

of God

in the crook of a notebook

worn from months of being stuffed in a bag, pummeled by

motion from wallet, lipstick, a rummaging hand

Today, I am realizing

I should never have left

this to be

cook cheese into a burrito

steal a pop tart when I

become overwhelmed

with hunger. Eat oatmeal and

want more never enough.

If you tell me to drink

water again, it becomes

clear

you have never felt the same way

It becomes worse for the wear and wrapped

in a mink coat that

leaves a trail of mothball

scent wherever it has been

or in this case, wherever it may land.

whether it be sideways upside down or not at

all

An extension of kindness

from another today, who taught me not to judge, despite

wearing men’s shoes, striped in black

Its as if they saw me

for the first time – I

reached the magical

tipping point

a consent to seasonality

and as the world turns

we find another to hold

our fears

at bay

In consecutive silence offering

I may be felt or heard

between the spaces

where the lock waters

rise a simple gift of ham

on a sick Halloween

night

gives rise to Easter

candy in the morning.

I have hated nocturne since

the time it entered

tellingly, I hold my breath

but I don’t wish for

dawn

I’ll take a storm to

obfuscate the terrors of

the new day, which

soon wasted in the glaze of conundrums, also

known as sunshine.

How would you know the difference,

without my telling

a breast of ceiling light

crinkles and bursts with

the force of electricity

at a science demonstration

4th grade

a dark, tiered

amphitheater, in which the children

are

to be impressed

and yet I sat there waiting

for the show to begin

and it never did

This, I tell you, with almond

milk oatmeal drying

creamy into charred round

the rim of an orange chipped bowl

you’ll never pick off the

remains with your fingers,

unless you’d fancy losing a

nail

I will soak in warm, soapy

water

I will forget about it and

plunge my hand into

freezing water to retrieve it

later