“Otter Creek Road February 9, 2001”

Otter Creek Road February 9, 2001

Don’t get excited — when I say
one reason god loves cedar trees at night
is it’s so dark in there he can hide and watch us up close
and no one see he’s there, and that tickles him —
it’s just a description. It’s just to make you sniff
the black between the unseen laced green branches.
There are two rules against writing about god.
The one that’s in fashion in poetry now
and god’s own older one, which we are incapable
of breaking. Don’t get excited. If tonight you were
here by the water with me looking into this cedar
we could be puzzled together how close we seem
to being able to say what the mystery is, certain
it is something we know. I can call it god
if I want to. It is safe from names.

Tagged: Book Excerpt, Poetry