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A Lonely God, Asleep, Somewhere in Illinois by Rachel C JohnsonI had a dream about the earth last night,
held out on a string and spinning
in the palm of my cupped hand.
I was surprised at the size
of the North American Coast,
so small next to the ocean, blue and pretty,
nearly clear in the sunlight, hot
and full of toxic air;
And of the greenness of the grasslands,
envious, and warm
with the billowing winds from deserts
and the body heat of beasts.
And I dropped it, the little thing,
a marble of an Earth,
into a half-full/half-empty glass of water,
and watched the ripples break the tension
on the surface of the question
and answer it, an affirmation
of a lack of knowledge of the world.
So I tipped the glass
and watched the flood of water crash
over the edge of the granite countertop
and cascade onto the floor;
splashes of blue, of green, and of gold;
of melted earth, and boiling magma;
of eight ounces
of tainted kitchen tap.
The End of the Earth never looked
so lovely, a stained glass puddle
on heaven’s ethereal floor.
I mopped it up in quite a hurry,
afraid of what punishment lay in store
for me, the one who held the earth
for answers and for nothing more;
for me, the one left waiting there
to answer when God came to my door.
I had a dream about the earth last night;
I watched it spinning in my hand.
I was surprised at how at home I felt
looking down on the little planet;
The mountains like rooftops from such a view,
the clouds just puffs of milky water;
and me, somewhere, on the surface,
too small. Even for God to see.
04/18/2009 Posted on 04/18/2009 Copyright © 2010 Rachel C Johnson
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Gabriel Ricard on 04/18/09 at 03:02 PM That's a pretty beautiful, powerful dream. I love the way you come back to the first stanza at the end as well. |
| Posted by Maria Kintner on 04/18/09 at 11:46 PM Wow. This was a GREAT read. |
| Posted by George Hoerner on 04/19/09 at 09:10 AM And would you shatter it to bits and remold it nearer the hearts desire??? A thought provoking write Rachel. Oh if we had the power. |
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