Dwell

Poem by Gale Acuff

Last night I dreamt I was Jesus and died             
on the Cross and it hurt plenty, so much
that it woke me up and I was bleeding
sweat or maybe that's I was sweating blood
but anyway my pillow was all wet
and my pajamas and it's also known
as the Crucifix and it was made of 
wood was what Jesus died on and not just
died but was murdered on and not just that
but was crucified on, the Son of God
they swear at Sunday School hung up to dry
like a common criminal but if not
a common criminal then a pretty
interesting one and He died for my
sins and everybody's, that's the story
and I'm only ten years old, what do I
know about such facts of life – I don't know         
where babies come from either but I'd guess
from God like Jesus did, not that kids are
 
God but they're pretty damn close, I'd say that
kids and really old people and maybe
sick ones, too, they're all nearer-my-God-to
-Thee than my folks or even Miss Hooker,
my Sunday School teacher – okay, she's close
to God and Jesus and the Holy Ghost
heart-wise but not age-wise, she's old but
just 25 so I guess when you're dead
and like Jesus you give up the ghost, you
go to God and get to hang in Heaven
forever or else you go to Hell if
you've sinned a lot but if I believe in Him,
Jesus that is, my sins are forgiven
and I get to stay in Heaven for good,
dwell is the word Miss Hooker uses, it's
a lot like live but it's living the good
life and yet you're stone dead. Technically.

About the writer

Gale Acuff has had poetry published in Ascent, McNeese Review, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Poem, Adirondack Review, Weber: The Contemporary West, Maryland Poetry Review, Florida Review, Slant, Poem,, Carolina Quarterly, Arkansas Review, South Dakota Review, Orbis, and many other journals. He has authored three books of poetry: Buffalo Nickel (BrickHouse Press, 2004), The Weight of the World (BrickHouse, 2006), and The Story of My Lives (BrickHouse, 2008). He has taught tertiary-level English in the US, China, and Palestine.