Or deliver me into a land
so full of distraction that
I can’t possibly regret
how easily it all came apart.
-From my poem, “Adam’s Withdrawal,”
posted during Lexpomo 2016.

Yesterday a boy stood up against his father.
Today the same boy will get stung by a bee
and in a couple friends, a friend will be dead.
Why? Because I’m becoming a novel god
and I will it all to be.

I’ve searched for the land of distraction
by unraveling mem’ries of paradise
and stitching the loose threads
into my own tapestry of life.
I build it from all my loss
in ways that make pain make sense.

Begone Eve!
You have failed in your companionship!
But in doing so, you have shown me
that the way to finally get back to Eden
is by growing it in the heart.