Psalm 8: Two Views of Creation
v1.0
Our excellent God
has created an
Excellent World.
I have camped
many times
with Love
in the woods & lakes
of Central Wisconsin
and have gotten up
with a soft sullen
Sun
to see the ducks &
geese leaving a lake
called Mauthe
and have felt the
chill air
and wondered-
no exulted-
in my blessing
to be what seemed
the only human animal
seeing the
brilliantined light
in the moist leaves
and glistening raccoon
tracks and surprisingly
smoldering embers
of last night’s fire.
I have rolled a papered
tube of God-proven
death
and touched it with fire
(man’s favorite miracle)
and grinned (breathing smoke)
so broad my face
might break
to hear the splash
of a few fattened bass
and walleye down the hill.
I’ve built fire.
What power is mine
to command base elements!
And have read powerful words of
Peace made laughable
by the peace I
experienced there.
Well.
Praise God, then,for this should be life.
v2.0
Our excellent God
has created an
excellent world.
I have lived,
lo these five years,
in this nation’s 3rd
largest city, next
to a giant &
filthy lake.
I have awakened
in the near-constant
dark
& heard the sirens
and the cautionary tale
of reversing garbage trucks
(nearer still, my
Lake Shore Drive,
to thee)
& have layered my
clothing thrice to
defeat the wet knife
of wind from the Lake,
and wondered-
no, cursed-
the misery
I’ve chosen in
being another
anybody
in a sea of same
to see the shadows
downtown that make dusk
permanent and turn
away from the
besotted corpse begging change
and focusing on the spare
seconds of warmth from
my cigarette.
I’ve lit that cigarette
walking out of
Dunkin’ Donuts
(for reasons known
only to the Gods)
and grimaced
at the slamming
closed of loading dock
doors and truck hatches.
I’ve watched
crazed indigents
burn corrugated cardboard
desperately and have
read the vapid advertisements
on the side of various buses
and taxi-cabs
made inconsequential
by the vacuous life
I am living.
Well.
Praise God, then,
for life is as it is.
posted by Tack City @ 19:30
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