One themed poem by Steve Young

How Much it Costs to Maintain That Church
by Steve F. Young

There’s a church down here
It faces the back of a police station, across the street
A steep incline covered in green leads up to the back of the station
I like to sit there
I bring my books and beer in my backpack
I always feel very ironic sitting there, drinking my beer
I’m not sure why
The church is very big
And it has these huge stained glass windows
From the floor to the peak
They are very beautiful and most times I don’t even read the books
I just drink my beer and stare at that glass
For weeks I told myself that I should come on a Sunday
In the morning
And watch the people
I was very curious as to who goes to a church like that
One Sunday morning, very early
I was still awake from the night before
I put five bottles of beer and a book in my backpack
I can’t remember what book it was
War and Peace or The Prince or something like that
Something that was supposed to be GREAT
But was finally just boring
It was daybreak when I sat down on the police station’s green
I drank one bottle of beer and then fell asleep
There in the grass
When I woke up, I could here the chatter of the people across the street
There was a long line to get in
Like a concert
And who I have to assume was the pastor was greeting the people at the door
The door looked twenty feet high
But only a small piece of it opened
I was very disappointed with that
The parking lot was full of cars and vans
The line was full of men, women and children
I was also very disappointed to see nothing remarkable about the cars or the people
A lady was trying to keep a restless little girl still
She grabbed her hair and yanked it
I couldn’t hear what she said, but I imagine it was like
“Knock -- it -- off!”
Her husband saw this and grabbed the woman’s arm
I think he grabbed it a little too hard
Because the woman flinched
And then the man let go and started stroking her arm
It was like when your dog is excited
And accidentally steps on your balls
You smack him or push him away real hard and then feel bad about it
So you pet him for a little while
Yeah, it was just like that
I could see all the big lights on in the church
Bent and distorted through the stained glass
Why didn’t they build churches with big regular windows?
You know, to let god’s natural light in
I have a friend who works for the utility company
I know how much it costs to maintain that church
It’s disgusting
Yesterday I was walking and I saw a flock of geese flying in a perfect V
Right as they passed over my head they all went HONK HONK HONK!
I stopped and watched the V until it disappeared
I shook my fist at the sky
“Goddamn honkies!” I yelled.
I laughed to myself for a week
Last month, I was driving down the road
Through a construction zone just north of downtown
I saw an old man trying to negotiate the traffic and barricades
He was trying to cross the street
Right when he got to the other side
A big dump truck roared past him
It switched gears and blew a huge cloud of white smoke right in that man’s face
He didn’t even notice
He just kept right on walking
I saw that old black man
Dressed in rags and walking down the street
Emerge from that big cloud of white smoke and I said WOW!
God is everywhere if god’s anywhere
Ah me! If my eyes were cameras I would be world renowned

Author bio:

Steve lives in Phoenix, AZ and works in construction. He has blonde hair and drinks a lot of beer. He survives on ramen noodles, Miller High Life and tap water. He is always very hungry and is now accepting meat donations.