Day 19

God

Hello everyone,

Well, today’s prompt is one that can be loaded for many of us, based on what way we grew up to understand The Sacred. So, if you don’t want to use the word God for your prompt, but you have a different idea of this being— They/them, The Sacred, The Divine, Creator, Great Mystery, Light Within, Great Beyond, etc—I invite you to use that prompt instead.

I’d love to know how we understand the sacred in and around us, and how that varies from person to person.

So, onto the poetry:

God,

I whisper,

like it’s a sacred thing to say,

I’m told the most sacred of all,

a prayer from my lips

to some holy place above—

but no, that’s not how I mean it,

I mean it like I say hello

to my best friend

while I’m dancing amongst

dandelions that are changing

through the summer heat.

I say God

like I can barely grasp it at all,

this idea,

this image,

this being,

this boxed-in caricature

that I’ve been handed by

too many white men.

God,

I say,

then

Mystery,

and I breathe a little deeper

and everything expands,

this friend,

this Great Beyond,

this expression of love

that I cannot seem

to let go of,

even if I try.

You,

I say,

how are you? how are you really?

into the vastness of the air around me,

into the ocean’s tide,

into the plant I’m tending,

into the words I write,

into the tears

and the laughter,

the sighs

and the tenderness.