God or No God

Monstrous they were

in what they took

from you—

What they did not take, they broke.

What they broke, we could not heal

unable to kneel to any heaven—

All that remained to worship

was death and so we let it send

hot breath down the spine

of our lives all winter

until we broke like books

into two mutable halves.

One half believed in mercy.

The other in nothing.

But the nothing half

was greater and nothing

triumphed again and again.

Nothing carved a hole

in your spine until

nothing remained.

The doctors did no harm

The doctors did—

The doctors

The harm

The doctors didharm

no

no

no

Theno

didharm

The doctors—

The doctors

no

no

Their words were a form of poison

meant to fool us with sweetness.

I tasted the terms. Swallowed

the sermon. The fruitless unction.

(I went on hoping you’d be okay)

(I expected you to grow more ferocious)

They broke what they did not take—

(no)

(no)

What they did not take, they broke.