Old and New Testament

Old and New Testament


Sitting in the Breakaway Bar with my third beer
when the Bible Man comes in, Wednesdays like usual,
and sits beside me with his double whiskey
and his "How do you do?" and "Brother,
are you saved?" He leaves at closing time
and I follow him, follow his tracks in the snow,
getting smaller and smaller with evey block
until I look up and it's suddenly 4 a.m.
and the streetlights are flashing red,
red, red, red, my breath forming questions

out of the air. It takes me hours to find my way
back to my one room apartment in the Petticoat
where I soak my bluish feet in a basin of hot
water, peeling the skin off my soles.
Believing in everything I own, I stand at the window
watching one city block turning into another,
into another, into another, forgiving
everything I see, forgiving my inadequate god.


Sherman Alexie..........from Old Shirts & New Skins.