Gary Margolis: Tracking Forgiveness

Stevens wrote “The Imperfect is

our Paradise”. Some days

paradise is all we have. A sentence

to live by. A therapist I know says

we’re allowed to make twelve mistakes

an hour. What is forgiveness for,

if not to set our watches by?

I wear Christ on my wrist

and have a hard time believing

everything Stevens writes.

Remember he was an underwriter

who wrote poems from insurance

policies. I want to make as many mistakes

as I can, here in my lifetime.

So I can be my own priest, sign

Perfection’s policy. My wife says

I shouldn’t have left the bird feeder

out for a bear to trash last night,

to leave tracks in the hungry snow.

Says she married me so we can live

in paradise.

Copyright 2017 Gary Margolis

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