Dante

Paradiso

God is always ready to slow dance

As ready for you as a mother wiping down countertops for your afternoon snacks

A five year old who refuses to detach from her father’s knee

A boy who wrote you hand written notes and slipped them into your locker

A koi pond you didn’t even know was there until you looked down.

*

Inferno

Evil is wishing wells

Evil is not the city traffic, but the kernel you keep tonguing while you tailgate that guy’s ass

Evil is TV static, background noise, the cosmic radio waves of the devil’s angry argument where he stormed out to get cigarettes

Evil is forgetting. It is also the thirst to know. It’s the dementia of a hateful person rocking in a chair alone.

*

Purgatorio

I don’t think heaven has a locked gate

I think you can come in and out as you please

And if I’m wrong I’ll find you

At the seven eleven so we can get your paperwork in order.

When I die you can still send me texts and emails

They’ll fax them through a black hole

And I’ll wave at you through rainbows

And we’ll see each other again.