Moths

The moth under the book had been dead for two days. After I buried it in the garbage, its shadow stayed on the kitchen through several washings. It was Icarus, flying to close to a Japanese woman with a book, and phobia of all things that flutter. The death was not mourned by her, and was insured through repeated steps on the book.

It was a big moth. Strong and fearless. But no moth can live under a book and the weight of a frightened woman. I took it as a lesson, and hope you do as well. Let us not wander where have no business, else our bodies be dried to the linoleum under the weight of our own hubris.

Christmas in July

Woke up at noon to the sound of hammers.
Brushed my teeth while neighbors mowed their lawns.
Stumbled down the road to a coffee shop
and attempted morning devotions and homework.

Listened to a dog in hot car bark
and Christmas music for two hours.

When I took my head phones off
I heard an old man with a hair-piece
rant about the conservatives
while a white-haired skeleton nodded.

Somehow it finally set in:
summer had arrived.

At the Pearly Gates?

[I needed to get to writing, and this is what came out]


The important thing is that we all got here safe and sound
except those who didn’t, but they were wanderers
so we shouldn’t feel any great sympathy for them
they found their own paths and it’s not easy
to know where they are, or if they’ll ever get here

The important thing is that we are all here
though where here is is not entirely clear
what is clear is that wherever here is
we are most certainly there
and if you think about it long enough
it will make all of our heads hurt
so don’t think about where we actually are
or the people who aren’t here or how we got here
or how they got to wherever they are
think only of the joyous fact that we are here
remember the apostles words when he wrote that

The important thing is that we set our hearts on things above
and that we remember where we came from
and where we are going, which is here,
so I guess it’s not so important, but it was important
and that we must never forget.