Here I hang from this high tree, say What,

While the Big G just sits up there, who happens

To be punching holes in Cheerios to

The tune of a

Melodic Everly Brothers song, All I have to do is Dream

Hey Mom! Has my sentence been deferred?

No? Well, Say ‘Hi’ to Pete and all the guys, Does

This mean they have forsaken me, or does it

Mean the forgiveness well has run dry

I didn’t really expect to be up

In this Dogwood like

All forlorn and shriveled and hanging like a

Grape going to raisin

Hey, where’s that guy going with that spear in

His hand? He’s going to poke me? Does the

Roman know why there is no splendor in the sun?

Excuse me, Centurion or

Is it miles*? Don’t let your hatred fester

Where did you get those sandals? They are like

The Kingdom of Heaven a

Manly pair of footwear, do your feet get sore --

Really? And

What did you pay then

Before you found out you couldn’t run?

Ugh-h-h-h … Does

That ever smart it

Is supposed to help me die faster? Mom, don’t make a stink

Will my kingdom be like

This weather that has turned rotten

Or like pork the new white meat?

No mom, it’s just a story... Or

Should I say a parable What? you got more crust

Than a Pharisee and

A Roman asking me to sugar

Coat the story for this over

Zealous group enthralled by the idea of death like

Watching a man take a

Last breath while his mom asks in a syrupy

Voice ain’t he sweet?

What? Why would I tell an absurd story Maybe

I don’t know? Maybe I wonder why it

Is so important why it just

Takes my mind from a body that sags

As gravity pulls me toward death like

Diminishing space eliminates time a

Burden I must bear that weighs heavy

On my mind the sins of man are a load

That must be shared Or

We will all be crushed you ask does

It have to be this way does it

Why can’t the Kingdom of Heaven just explode?

*miles (pronounced mee-lays) is latin for soldier

**I used a poetic form called golden shovel. If you go back and read only the word of each line, it will be Langston Hughes’ poem called What Happens to a Dream Deferred?