HEAVEN

lakshmi
my golden girl
who fills  
the coffers
of the world...
 
she seems
light as air
and is lovelier
than poor jesus,
bloody  
on his cross
 
swallowing
his thorny
pill
 
or even him
resurrected,
glorified
 
ascended
 
radiant  
on his golden throne
and  
granting wishes
left and right,
pulling  
the blessed
from the rubble
 
taking the others
home
 
the gohonson
displayed
in its dusty cabinet
an angular sutra
drawn
black against white  
and gold
 
kept long after
the chanting stopped
 
and then a hundred books --
bibles
watts and suzuki
merton
pagels
 
my crooked journey
to nowhere
 
heaven having been  
discovered
on my front porch