ASKING

For years I thought that
talking to the Gods
was an exercise
done privately
under
unforgiving

distant stars

ridiculous unrequited prayer
done by staring
at old cold books
with mean small print

But then I discovered
that just
ain’t
it at all

God can be found in the ‘thank you’ voice of the guy at the counter
at the 7-11
or
the quietness of a stranger’s parking lot smile
or
the rattle of weeds across a dry summer Mojave
or
watching my untethered fingers jump jump jumping
across the keys
deep in the middle of typing three hours worth of unscrubbed truth

God – for me – turned out to be
a conscious choice
a self-evoked experience

just
like
love

~~Dan Fante 2008