God writes
what looks like chickens scratch
and I see them pecking in the dirt
around a hospital far away from
sterile America
where I will meet a skeleton surrounded by flies
soaking in his own urine
and light around his eyes and mouth
as he will tell me how blessed he is because
Jesus is real
and that will change my story
at seventeen
I will split open and begin to die
to small town dreams and boys with nothing
but beer on their breath and vacant promises
to love me for all my flaws
and I will see I can embrace the whole world
when God writes
scrawling messy cursive notes
bounding off pages
describing and becoming
gardens and glistening cities
itineraries and poetry
not to-do lists like I used to think,
or red marks of graded homework
“Good effort. C +”
and I will  find myself, the novel’s protagonist
written onto a cliff
on the edge of the world
purple light fading shadows on train tracks
as the world awakes and my inner dialogue
wonders how life can be this beautiful
when God writes
finger-painting streaks of turquoise across
bare white mental walls
a mischievous child’s decor
a graffiti artist proclaiming truth
“You are Loved”
God writes

Tags: a million miles in a thousand years, control, God as a writer, God as an author, God's writing your story