God Is a File Folder Manila Horse’s Head

Her chair creeks

as she reaches

for the last folder

in the last drawer

of her file cabinet

She knows

(of course she knows,

she knows everything),

that humans should

alphabetically be filed 

between howler monkeys

and hummingbirds

But she never wants

to stumble accidentally 

over her greatest 

disappointment

She sighs, pen in hand,

and opens the file

to add the latest update

Once again,

they killed recklessly,

she writes,

wishing now

she had used 

a spreadsheet,

(marking x’s would 

have been easier)

They slaughtered endlessly,

she continues 

Forests fell to their 

unquenched, greedy hands

They stood proudly

atop their pile of victims,

thanking her

(or their shallow

understanding of her)

for their overstuffed bellies

and their accumulating piles

of stacked green paper,

as if that were somehow

part of her plan 

God, 

if she does exist,

is crying for her children

who thoughtlessly 

cut off the head

of the horse and

then pray in hope

that he will run again

Written April 20, 2020