words

oh lord,
where have you gone from here.
oh lord
can’t you smell the sulphur
predicate my coming,
oh lord
can’t you hear the sin
beating dark in my heart,
the acrid tones of my bitterness,
the vulcanization of my thoughts,
the ego of my ego
and the shade of my approach
moving before me like carbonic witness,
can’t you feel this love,
the ink smears at this 11th hour,
the turbine engine of your earth
sputtering low and ominous
like dogs on the prowl,
the muted whisper of these winds of war
crank this perverse machination forward
bearing the blueprint of your violent genes
that hang about in aftermath
and dissipate in the ether,
the firmament shroud remote and hollow,
this empty gesture.
oh lord
your hands bear no residue of this mess
you’ve left us in.
oh lord
the echo of your laughter is haunting
and how it lingers,
your voice is lost in this din of madness,
this world will swallow us whole,
this world will bury us deep,
this world will cease its turning
and our orbit will escape the gravity
of your impetuous hands.
oh lord,
where is your crook and your sunburst,
where have you gone from here.

-S.C. Martinez