IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD


In 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.