Act of God
Act of God
By: Halifax
revival
you’re not a religion
you’re a tent church
blown over during services
as if some god had blustered back
in a spinning side wind
to upstage a red-faced
evangelical backslider shill
living off his faith
in mankind’s gullibility
good gracious
God-almighty
Oh there’s potato salad
upside down
on the ground now
thank you Jesus
for the cellophane
hallelujah
The punch bowl got swept away
but turned up salvaged
out in the gravel lot
still empty relatively clean
since it hadn’t been time
to pour Communion yet
Paper plates and women’s hats
sneaked past a sycamore
and have come to rest
patient waiting in tall grass
unneeded until supper
He’s a true believer
and doubts the creator
so he keeps on preaching
that this is a blessing
in disguise somehow
that this catastrophe
is a test meant for all
to see who among them
would stop to help
right the house of God
Just like that the saps rise
to fix the flaps and tie-downs
gather up folding chairs
like the bones of saints
before settling back in
bringing order together
to tithe of their own
for the privilege
of serving a purpose
beyond immortal ones
that call for them to fall
into the dizzy cartwheels of
killers thieves and liars