Genesis 2: A Love Poem

Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.

When God put Adam in the Garden

He brought out a parade of

all the things He made

The most badass animals at the front

grizzly bears, wombats, and wolverines

each of them introduced themselves to the man

God showed Adam

all his favorite things

His parrots sang in harmonies

His gibbons had choreographed dances

His pandas had tumbling routines

His elephants did head-stands

His puppies tripped over their ears

His alligators performed Handel’s Messiah

And after all this

Adam was still lonely

and sulked

. . .

When I went to my friend’s house for my first Canadian Thanksgiving, he had built up my arrival. As I walked in the door I heard the high pitch screams of two little girls who showed me into the living room, and then the rituals began.

First they brought out their building blocks, handing them to me saying “these are our building blocks” and then retreated into their playroom. Next they brought out their toy cars, handing them to me saying “these are our cars” and then retreated into their playroom. And so it went until their playroom was empty, the turkey was waiting, and I felt like one of the family.

. . .

I like you

more than a little

more than a lot

I want to show you my hometown

“this is my favorite teriyaki place

they have the best spicy chicken

I’ve ever had”

“This is the first bar

I ever drank an IPA at

you can play horseshoes out back”

I want to show you all my favorite people

“This is my Mom, Pam, she’s a teacher,

like me, but full-time and with young kids,

she beat cancer”

“This is my sister

she has two masters degrees

and planted an artsy church

in Sacramento”

“This is Graham,

he writes, like me, but better

he has a masters degree too

he’s the one who got me to start writing”

“This is Mike,

he climbs mountains

and has an awesome story

about a man-parts injury”

I want to show you

all of my favorite things

so that you can like them with me

I want to know all your favorite things too

so that I can like them with you

This might mean

I’m moving past liking you

more than a little

more than a lot

And I may have to start using

a new verb altogether.