Page 10 - 1.News and Views Spring 2025 for Jim.

LAZY WORDS Simon Bowden

My words are too tired to get up in the morning
They blink but can’t see anything yet
They scowl in disbelief at the alarm

My words shave, shower, dress
They troop to a meeting where Friends embrace their silence
Words cough and dispose their limbs

My words appeal to God to speak to them
Any language will do, they say

Are we to think of you as he, she or they?

NOTHING

The words fidget.
Then let me call you Lord of Hosts
Let me summon Alpha and Omega to this room

NOTHING

Can you imagine yourself like me?

Twist your spine, God, till it hurts
Let me travel all the lanes of your breath

The coral spine of the Universe unwound
Constellations were tipped on their heads
Words were in darkness, upside down

Terrified, they whispered, God
Can you cast your fishing net over the moon?
Can you adjust the sun – so we stay in the Goldilocks zone?

Do you come as Judge to hear us condemned by our own mouths?
Do you come as Surgeon to open our hearts to love?
The killer in prison rehab answered – I began to see what I’d done

When I stopped talking. They offered me art therapy, instead.

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