ALL THE DEITES IN THEIR PRETTY GARDENS
The aftermath of a mass shooting on my phone:
you said this could be us and I said Yeah I know.
Whatever victuals happen to be at hand,
most of the infants will die in the first freeze.
Abstinence from specific types of food,
including warning shadows, human shadows.
They do not believe that God will preserve them.
Another hour of cheap talk about your problems,
dwelling places from which you have lapsed.
I can afford a new face. I can afford a new face
if you will buy my old one. All the deities
in their pretty gardens are burning. In my opinion
you do not want to attain salvation. Tell my father
I will leave the evidence in a voicemail.
Derek Graf's poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Portland Review, Booth, and The Boiler. His chapbook, What the Dying Man Asked Me, is available through ELJ Publications (2015).