God as Reflexive Pronoun by Susan O’Dell Underwood


 
 

Myself, I am. A vessel in the shining condensation,
ephemeral as steam, adores the breath that comes and goes. I see,
and so I’m changed this second and the next. The raging narcissus
are unaware of me; their perfume fills me,
will make me whole. Broken open, their spores
rise up and spill the day awake. Unseen, the mysteries
I’m barely able to contain: ourselves within myself, I.

I’m barely able to contain ourselves within myself. I
rise up and spill the day awake, unseen. The mysteries
will make me whole. Broken open, their spores
are unaware of me. Their perfume fills me,
and so I’m changed. This second and the next, the raging narcissus,
ephemeral as steam, adores the breath that comes and goes. I see
myself. I am a vessel in the shining condensation.

 
 
 

Susan O’Dell Underwood directs the creative writing program at Carson-Newman University in East Tennessee, where her and her husband recently began Sapling Grove Press, a press devoted to the work of underserved Appalachian writers and artists.

Besides two chapbooks, she has a full-length book forthcoming with Iris Press; and her poems, essays, and short fiction can be found in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Oxford American, Rock & Sling, Crab Orchard Review, Bellevue Literary Review, and the Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee.