The final image

The bathroom floor is a Hermann grid
'til tide comes in;
this sea of red would part...
but Moses isn't watching.

God has him cleaning
the corners of heaven
for guests,
but guests are always coming.
They don’t even knock
anymore, and St. Peter
gave up taking names
after Hell overflowed
and Lucifer started
shipping sinners to Heaven
in UPS brown boxes.

He keeps telling God
to lower his standards –
Hell should be hell,
but if so full that even the
Dark Angel, after retreating
to his chambers, is forced
to feng shui souls in order
to reach his bed and slip
beneath the sheets, then,
obviously,
there is a problem.

I wish I could have been there
to see God roll his eyes
(that’s why Satan
turned into a smuggler).
God’s got an ego, you see,
from everyone saying
He’s so great all the time;
I think He actually believes
He created his mortal minions
from dust, when in fact it was
He who was borne of a pulse
and a current.

NS 12.30.2009