How to Use a Bible
       

Recycle the flyer from the new church
vowing to teach you how to use a Bible.
Dust off your copy from the attic.
Take an apple from the fridge
and the knife you bought on TV.
Start from the beginning
like you would a novel.

Listen for its patterns like an old refrain.
Don't treat it like a cookbook
or an almanac to wring rain from.
It won't bring your wife back.
She laid with your friend.
He carried his to church in a leather case.

Kiss it when it confirms what you already know,
but when it claims the sun revolves around the earth
rip out the page and fold it into an airplane.
Don't burn it lest you burn your house down.

Take it as literally as you would yourself
or a single cumulus in June
floating by your porch.
Don't mind whether the stories are true.
Resurrection happens
when you slip out of bed in the morning
and look in the mirror and forgive her.
Your dog stretches, yawns
and stands quiet as a cloud
while you put on his leash
to go outside for a walk.

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Copyright © 2022 Chris Abbate All rights reserved
from Talk About God
Main Street Rag Publishing Company
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission