When Goliath went to heaven was it the one
that welcomed David? Theologians split
along -isms schisms. What they call theories run
aground on shoals of logic. Priests refit
the flotsam into dogmas angels shun
but people love because it lets them hit
each other, each one sure Divinity
likes her or him alone, and no one born B.C.

It was time for some jollity
He squirted cognac in our tea
And said nothing cheers one up
Like alcohol in a stirrup cup

That’s like rhyming while the empire burns
Or playing bowls among the urns
Containing ashes of the great
Who brought us to our current state

A short term thrill that makes us ill
But we don’t think at first it will
We toast ourselves and try to smile
It always works a little while

‘I’ll be back at five-thirty to complain about being left out,’
she said to the angels, the lesser ones, watching a game
with real Christians and Tigers. One big cat had a pope in its mouth
while converts with halberds attempted to make the beast lame.
The angels gasped when a rank god with rabies approached from the south
and they raced to be first to mark up their screens with his name.
She, being a goddess herself, wanted live action more
so she shattered their tablets and shot a bolt closing the door.

Humming birds and bees
have gone missing.
‘OK,’ people say.

‘We’ll make plastic flowers.’
Even egrets know
this is crazy.

A dolphin nears
the shore enough
that I can ask her

has she met
or heard of
one good human

‘Nature is the polluter,
their Reagan said,’
the dolphin snorted.

‘I swam through ugly miles
of human-made plastic,
starved and scared to fish

knowing that fish fill
themselves with plastic tossed
by your good humans.’

I extended my search
sure good people exist
in spite of all their news.

Learning to read taught me
that humans feed on tragedies
they cause, or don’t resist.

I am sure today’s the day
I’ll find my black swan:
a human who is good.

Here comes one
helping an old man
cross a busy road.

He keeps saying ‘No!’
She smiles and tugs
his wristwatch off.

‘Why can’t you be nice?’ I asked.
‘We can’t, because we’re people,’
the humans beings replied.

The birds and the other beings
nodded. ‘That’s the truth,’
they all said together.

‘If you are born a human
you’ll be bad.’
I wanted a different answer.

‘Can’t some of them change?’
I asked. I saw shaking heads.
‘Maybe,’ said one chicken.

She walked to the people.
They killed her dead
just because they could.