faith in god

“I don’t really miss God, but I sure miss Santa Claus”
--Courtney Love, from “Gutless”(1994)

“I am my own God”
--Charles Bukowski, from Life magazine (December 1988)

the ultimate
deadbeat dad,
whose children
hold onto
candy-pane hope *
that he will
come back home
to be there for them,
to provide
for their needs,
to comfort them,
to love them.

a hope
never fulfilled,
an invisible
security blanket
cast aside
when children
finally grow up
and embrace
Reason,
the nurturing mother
patiently waiting
for her time to come.

© 2004 by Jack T. Marlowe, 9-6-04

* trivia note: "candy-pane" refers to the fake windows used in
movies, which originally were made from a heated mixture
of sugar and other ingredients, resulting in a more-or-less
transparent sheet of candy that actors could smash through
without getting cut up. Beer bottles that were smashed over
cowboys' heads in fight scenes were made of the same stuff.

After the scenes were shot, the actors often ate some of the
pieces of the candy "glass."