When Gods Become People

When gods turn to people,

I turn harsh

Feet of clay drag me to my personal morass

of absent adults, desperate fears

and fairytales that never come true.

I hunt my heroes,

hungry for revenge

I stake out my gods, hellbent

I’m needling, slicing, threading pain

It’s throwback trauma time again.

When gods melt human

instead of divine gold

They drown in gutters of my self loathing

Why, why can’t there be idols?

Why is there no one to worship?

Devotion festers and turns cold

Sticky sweet, sickeningly so

and takes away parts of me, congealed

Who am I with no expectations, no hope?

An empty void, an open space

After the gods are gone

and their debris swept away

there is a free clearing

and it’s up to me

to choose what to say.