Poem: God is in the Cracks

God is in the Cracks
–Robert Sward

“Just a tiny crack sep­a­rates this world
from the next, and you step over it
       every day,
God is in the cracks.”
Foot propped up, nurse hov­er­ing, phone ringing.
“Relax and breathe from your heels.
Now, that’s breathing.
So, tell me, have you enrolled yet?”
“Enrolled?”
“In the Illi­nois Col­lege of Podiatry.”
“Dad, I have a job. I teach.”
“Ha! Well, I’m a man of the low­er extremities.”
“Dad, I’m fifty-three.”
“So what? I’m eighty. I knew you
before you began wear­ing shoes.
Too good for feet?” he asks.
“I. Me. Mind:
       That’s all I get from your poetry.
Your words lack feet. For­get the mind.
Mind is all over the place. There’s no support.
You want me to be proud of you? Be a foot man.
Here, son,” he says, hand­ing me back my shoes,
“try walk­ing in these.
Arch sup­ports. Now there’s a subject.
Some day you’ll write about arch supports.”

From Rosi­cru­cian in the Basement