An Open Letter to God, Wide-Eyed and Fallible, by Rebecca Weigold

Pagan Void, by Barnett Newman (USA) 1946

An Open Letter to God, Wide-Eyed and Fallible
 
O God, wide-eyed and fallible, what do you write with
that oversized plume of whistling swan? Black ink
smears and splotches my birth certificate.  
 
You mold us in an abyss called womb.  
What of embryos? Am I a biological blunder?  
I filled tiny circles with a no. 2 pencil.  
 
The doctor wrote, bipolar. Am I the crumpled brown
take-out bag you tossed out the window when 
joy riding your streets of gold? While you busily 
 
fussy cut and petal fold, I still exist as something
between what I am and what you hoped for. When I
think of my cancer, I wonder if your oversights  
 
are flashback or forethought. What do you do with
them? Do you reduce/reuse/recycle? The garbage in
your palace must flank your throne, 
 
lean against pearly gates towering and tarnished, stink
to the highest heights of heaven. Who cleans 
up after you, brings waste disposal trucks? Will you 
 
part with what you hoard? Learn to say goodbye? 
O God, wide-eyed and fallible, your eyes reflect the  
same struggles of earth. When you think of us, 
 
surely your dark irises swell with tears that drip into
puddles of dirty secrets. Do your mistakes taste good?
Is earth the cake that failed to rise  
 
even frosting can’t fix? And what of black holes? Are
they nothing more than chocolate bon bons  
in pleated white wrappers? Standard pub ashtrays
 
collecting heaven’s debris? Are they trash cans rife
with regrets: hefty wads of botched blueprints,  
working models of Mars in the wrong shades of red,  
 
green nebulas, entire galaxies, tossed out with broken
hot pink Shiny Brites? We would be glad to bag
everything, tie it up, put it out to curb.  
 
I hear sometimes the worst of your fiascos become
purplescent dragonflies or starry painted deserts, and
sometimes even the best are hurled into flames. 
 
Rebecca Weigold
 
This poem previously appeared in Stink Eye Magazine.
 
Rebecca Weigold studied Theatre and English at Northern Kentucky University. She has held editorial positions at F&W Publications and ITP/Southwestern Educational Publishing in Cincinnati, Ohio. Her poetry has been featured in Floating Acorn Review, Haikuniverse, Rat’s Ass Review, Stink Eye Magazine, and others. Her poem, “Thoughts During Taps,” published in The Ekphrastic Review, has been translated into Arabic. Three of her poems have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Additionally, she is proud to have participated in the renowned Uptown Poetry Slam on multiple occasions, hosted by Marc Smith at the historic Green Mill in Chicago.