My God, and: Lifeguard

My God

My god built a machine that builds machines:he's a job creator. If your god's great,mine's greater, not the jailer, but the jail,not the lawyer, but the law incarnate,jaws deep in the viscera, he caughtlike Frankenstein's monster, a charge:electric. My god gave birth to your god:obstetrics. Scarecrow with a bellyfulof crows, shotgun a whitetail cuddles toas the hunter nearly snores himself awake.And there is the hiding of his power.My god trades in any number of unregulatedAmerican dialects: Yooper, Gulf Southern,Emoji, Auto-Correct. He twitpic his prick,and it trended as #IsThatIt? Small godsmake small promises, and who wantsto heat the whole house anyway?My god plows or, all alone, he beats.And every meal of his needs meat:my god's a scarecrow with a belly too bigto see his pecker, still he comescorrect: good grammar. His musichits you so hard: MC Hammer.Threat level green, belly full of Henny,if my god speaks, men kill in his name,lay blame in the multitudinous chorus.If you resist or flee, my god refusesthe rule to never fire at an animal's back: if it's brown, it's down, and when youcomplain about it, you displease my godand my god hears it and my godaccounts for it. The earth quakes.The foundations of the mountains tremblewith my god, my god, my god. My god

Lifeguard

Asterisk on the blacktop: dead crowthe van rolled over, killed twice.

The lifeguard lies on the edgeof the dock. A rim around the lake

from lack of rain. Belly-upcanoe-pair beached

in the cutgrass and striped basstrolling the muck-bed.

He drags a hand inthe narrows over

the dock-side, cutting the waterthe boy breathes in,

the lake smooth-faced and silent.Redwings dive for flies

as the water rushesto reconstitute as glass, the lake

agitated from receivingso many bodies.

He won't see the boylost against the flash

of pink one-pieces and orangepool tubes—

pollen motes caughtin the afternoon's glow,

mosquito pinching his armas he watches the water,

stunned by the boredom of childrennot drowning.