God and Google

I asked God and Google for guidance.

The secret to grief. 2-year-old articles

in men’s magazines lined with ads for

dating sites and ED meds. And Job’s answer:

were you there?

Pieces of a puzzle half-lost—scattered

amongst junked vacuums, couch crevices,

and partially-digested dried-out piles of dog shit.

Mangled survivors paint vague impressions of the whole:

Barry Sanders retired healthy at 30.

Bonheoffer hung days before Allies arrived.

Jesus wept. Otis Redding, Karl Barth,

and Ken Griffey Jr.

Lodge-pole pines and the 1988 Yellowstone fire.

And your 60 years of intermittent tumult—

estrangement and depression—ended

peaceful sleep in a rocking chair.

Parts enough—not a full picture,

no real answer or address,

but a question and a neighborhood,
a feeling and mood, direction and guide.