IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORDIn the house of the LORD I take off my person I take off my woman and say thank you for having me In the house of the LORD I wash up for supper I sit at the table and the LORD gives me a feast I say perhaps only a little perhaps just a taste The LORD says in the house of the LORD you better eat up so the LORD brings out two rivers I swallow them whole and they fork in my belly and bifurcate the seams of my three dimensional form The LORD says make yourself comfy The LORD brings out the great lakes Says here are your homes and we laugh I eat them in order—Huron Ontario Michigan Erie Superior I savor the fish the algae the ancient sediment layer I say LORD I'm not hungry anymore The LORD says my child I know exactly how hungry you are So the LORD brings out a forest and I make room in myself I fill up the house of the LORD with my body The LORD says amen and amen The LORD opens every closed portal I expand through many times and spaces The LORD says let us bow our heads and consume our earthly containers so we do I say thank you oh LORD and the LORD says it was nothing at all Bronwyn Valentine is an MFA candidate at the University of Alabama and the editor of Black Warrior Review. Her work has appeared in ILK and Banango Street. She lives in Tuscaloosa. |