Ghazal of Faith by Tara Mesalik MacMahon

"A hot stove, warm pan, ice-blue ice cube—melting faith."

TARA MESALIK MACMAHON
Ghazal of Faith

You make the meaning—Sartre faith.        
Live with the outcomes—Camus faith.

For the faithful, maybe test your fate. Gobble a tarantula,      
guzzle a piranha, ghazal a piñata—ayahuasca faith.              

Sometimes we masturbate, seduce faith. Religion, where men  
put their loneliness, their homes, Holmes—Oliver Wendell faith.

She calls it love, the ice cube slides. He calls it quits, the ice-cube sinks.
A hot stove, warm pan, ice-blue ice cube—melting faith.

A city of light spills across the water, field of bright coins,
field of bright corn. Flesh and all the glass candles—Rorschach faith.

Sometimes a sonata or soul, rhythm-and-roll, even poems. Such
musical notes plummet from God’s lap to you—Amadeus faith.

Here, impasto, violent swirls in violet hues. The effects
of light on a woman’s body, my body—Starry Night faith.

Into this life, we come with nothing, leave with nothing.
Love the things you love for what they are—Frost faith. And sleep.

★ First published in ONLY POEMS ★