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.
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