my mama wouldn’t have known
to ask for the Lord’s forgiveness.
who would ask you to be anyone but yourself?
who would commit such blasphemy, spit such lies
as you belong to one god or another, as if
we weren’t all made under the glorious son,
the natural universe’s starchild.
there is a god here and it is nature,
full of life and eternal and all-encompassing
and more holy and magnificent than any god
one such group could imagine. should not
any divine other than that which has created
beings capable of—thinking—there is any divine at all
count religion as blasphemy?
treachery?
am i the treacherous one, brother?
am i the one who has to repent for one’s sins?
brother,
what is this rot that envelops your soul?
when you think of me, do you think of that little girl?
when you think of me,
do the worms shrivel in your chest?
when i think of you,
i can’t remember you fondly.
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