day SIX HUNDRED and SEVENTY THREE

The Last Sunday

When you go to the America First Trumpist Church it is all very white 

Of course the building is white clapboard 

And the deacon who draws you through the door is white 

And all the ladies 

And the white washed face of Jesus that beams down on you 

No matter how old you were when you went in 

Now you are five or six 

And the floor furnace is the gateway to hell 

Where the little blue flames lick and dance 

Because they know you are not actually white 

The dirt that you have soaked into your soul 

Which you pictured as an organ shaped like a cross between 

The liver and an old brown shoe from cartoons 

But you know that your soul is moldy and spotted 

You are not white and clean 

And for today’s scripture we will hear how we are justified 

To discriminate against the gays 

To revile the kneeling protester 

To stop the gift of food to the needy school children 

Because none of that is white and clean and trumply 

And then they will all stand and swear to the national flag 

And they will pray for people who are like them and for others to be like them 

Or instead you must fall on the floor furnace grate 

And be branded with dark waffle iron grids burnt into your palms 

You will not come clean 

And when they all rise as one 

Your legs no longer work 

And the congregation will fall on you because 

The right thing to do is purge the crippled, 

Remove the unclean from their midst 

Before singing one last hymn 

Amen

-Mary Gainer