when i stopped going to church i thought i would gain something more than

the unburied questions of my youth. I have lost
the communion and I want it back. Sometimes I open my Bible
 
and start again at “In the beginning.” Sometimes I read about
Finished Work Pentecostalism on my phone in the dark. The other day

I threw a pebble into the field and watched
as it bounced off a blade of grass like a trampoline. And to me

that is an act of God. And the bird flying past me
with a twig in its beak is God’s mercy. Sometimes

I remember it was in church that I learned how to listen for,
how to look at. Sometimes I remember how a song could make me

irreparable. Sometimes I can’t stand the sound of my dog whining.
I asked God if he ever feels this way about me. He didn’t answer.

D. Freeman's recent work will appear in Poems for Tomorrow. They live and write in Michigan.