FaceTiming God
After "Telephoning God" by Gary Soto

3:00 a.m. stoned in the back seat of a Greyhound
between Cleveland and Memphis
I FaceTime God

and reach Reykjavík, Gunnar with his leg in a cast,
changing the channel on his TV every thirty seconds

FaceTime again and Des Moines comes through in a Cadillac,
Henry call me Hank on his way to the Chick-fil-A
Goshdarn slow drivers

Then Fort Myers and Tyler, daughter hugged to his chest,
Mommie didn't mean that

FaceTime once more, and only the knock of bocce balls
on a crushed oyster-shell court, Virginia Beach

A little silence, then the steam off an apple pie,
then the sweat pouring off Angela in the kitchen
scorch marks on her proffered palms.