Winner

Heming Huang

If God exists, then He’s a sneaky bastard.

He’s a bad lover who makes you forget

Who you are. He fogs up your windshield

On a stormy day, summons the flood,

And blurs life till it rains like an

Impressionist painting. Religion is the weed

My stalker smokes as He asks why

He can’t find love. Love is what poetry I

Don’t waste on assholes. When my boyfriend

Hugs me, it’s like Christmas never ends.

Father Above, why read Vedas, Torah, Bible,

Or Qur’an, when fathers below   

Still rape their daughters? Today,

I learned that songbirds look at stars to

Find their way home. Now that’s worth a prayer.

Patriarchy, I piss on thy men; thou art as

Brittle as cathedrals built too big.

God, all I know is idolatry: a wine-tart tongue,

Hands soft as butter, Cupid’s bow lips lus-

-cious as a red fig. The color aubergine, the

warmth of my tea, and how sunlight pours

through a window all Sauvignon Blanc.

If this be mine gods —

Then in Jesus’s Name, Amen and Amen.