God has given you this beautiful day, and what have you given God?

Man in front of Union Station, Los Angeles

 

I cant imagine God

wants a fatted calf.

Surely She knows better

than to feed on a fad

diet.  As for sacrificing

firstborns, thats been

done to death.

Perhaps God would like

something in cashmere.

How about a Rolex?

Or bright yellow Hummer

that says get out of my way!

Maybe God is not

a glutton for consumption,

but an over-worked

mother who wants a day off

to lie on the sofa,

sip Diet Coke and watch Oprah

a little peace

and quiet for once.

Someone else to pick up the kids

and make dinner

while She soaks in the tub.

Then later, with everyone seated

around the same table,

She would like just one meal

where no one spills milk

or complains

about the food set before him,

no one kicks at her brother

or pinches his sister.

Just one meal

to be eaten in gratitude

to be eaten in peace,

is that too much to ask?

Is that too much to want?

 

Reaching into the back

of the cabinet above the fridge,

expecting to find

party hats and whistles

saved from a long past

celebration, my hand

enters a pool of brown decay

remains of moth and silverfish,

paper feasting creatures.

The price of stasis is this

entropy I now hold

in my hand.