If your god is relegated to conscience
that little voice in your head
trained to speak
at the wave of your experience

your god is too small for me

If your god is only a projection
of the distant father in your living room
who abused and neglected you
when a father
was more important than food
or shelter

your god is too small for me

If your god failed you
by not doing what you thought he ought.
If your god is designed for your convenience
a prop for your comfort

your god is too small for me

If your god is a white-haired old man
who is more old fashioned than old-age
If your god is historically respected
but defective
in your current complexity

your god is too small for me

If your god is less meek and more mild
piled with placid temperament
un inspired un moved un intentional

If your god’s emotional capacity for compassion
is less than yours

your god is too small for me

If your god calls you to comfort
safe for the whole family
always “come unto me”
but never
“go out in my name”

your god is too small for me

If your god has never flushed your face
and stolen your words
with waves of open ocean
or mountains that mouse your vocabulary

If your god does not leave you in awe
of amazing grace so unbalanced
you clamber to conceive it

your god is too small for me

If your god abides by your contracts
a pact to protect your formulas
a god who upholds
your cold contingencies

If your god only works
through the cogs of machinery you have manufactured
for a factory of formulas to faith

your god is too small for me

If your god is white, middle-class, republican
if your god is Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Catholic
Pentecostal, Lutheran, or non-demonational

your god is too small for me

If your God created you in his image
and you returned the favor

your god is too small for me

Whatever god it is you know so much about
to comprehend or contain
is too small for me

Because

My God

is too big for you

My God is not contained in bullet-points
pressed on a page by those
arrogant enough to think they could grasp Him.

My God is too big for you

If you are searching for a god
small enough to see, tiny enough to taste
or touch with trust displaced

If your soul is not sandbagged
or beautifully nagged
by a God who
won’t stop
calling your name

my God is too big for you

If you do not praise your god
for poetry, music, and art
a baby’s smile or a full coffee-cart;
for brazen horizons and seas
a resounding storm or tender breeze

If your god does not leave you in love
with beauty that makes your soul
scream, “THIS is what life should be”

my God is too big for you

If you are searching for a god you can wrangle
like a mustang with a rope made of frayed twine
and managed reason

If you need a being who will obey your beckon
to submit to your five senses
and incomprehensive pretenses

then this poem is too big for you

my God is too big for you