why i'm a heathen

i pledge allegiance to a flag of all things known and unknown
i reject all other flags other than to find them pretty
i am not allied to random acts of birth
i do not worship the idea of a god that would choose one person over another
based on random acts of birth that result in cultural- religious immersion
and then expect some other person with some other random cultural-religious immersion
to preempt the others
my god is all things known and unknown and my god accepts all things known and unknown
and the telling of stories is the telling of stories and is not the road to redemption
or the path to heaven or the truth with a capital t
i am quilting a flag of all flags and once i am done it will still only be pretty
because it will still not represent all things known and unknown
it is mainly something that keeps us warm
and the miracle can be represented through story
but the miracle is not something that happened in a story
it is all things known and unknown
and it has no name
and there is no list of all the names we create at the end of the line
with a pass next to one and a fail next to another
the miracle is all around us and needs no embellishment
attempts to manifest the miracle through any medium are what we call art
of course something happens after we die
our bodies decompose and feed the earth (if we let them)
making food for new bodies to live
the miracle is not a spectacular show or a bestseller
i respect art and desire warmth
i respect your art and hope you are warm
but my flag does not fly over any one nation under any one god
it is too big for that

fancy

i am falling asleep to embers
only i am not falling asleep

i am dry-eyed, dry-throated, dry
the heat steals my water

my son has bad dreams in the next room
tosses and protests
injustice is relative

we have a bed
and an oven
the futon is folded up for sitting
the water runs
the roof holds

we got the fancy guppies at the shop owner's
     recommendation
they are hardy, live long
the snails and plants clean the tank so we don't have to

fish must be different from people because fancy and hardy
     don't go
luxury is relative