7.07 / July 2012

Gods

Zoe Etkin

I can make a god
inside me

Look how I make
him

pit, walnut shell, brain

I can make him
in my stomach
the usual way

or better
in my lungs

My body is a
god factory

where I produce
what is never given to me

I carve out
the man I need

for worship

I can make a god inside me
put a paint knife in his hand
call him father

My blood shakes him
to life

Zoe Etkin is a Los Angeles based poet and educator who has just earned her MFA in writing at CalArts. She is a recipient of the Beutner Award for Excellence in the Arts and her work appears or is forthcoming in Burning Word, Poetry South, and Deep South Magazine.

7.07 / July 2012