Sometimes
sometimes sunflowers grow out of the concrete
Sometimes
sometimes they grow about a one & two thirds’ miles high
Towering
Towering over lawns over houses
over projects & over neighbors alike
Sometimes
sometimes at the top with enough luck God sometimes
sometimes stops to answer the hard questions
My Mom elementary school young
climbed one once to meet God
Sitting on furniture built out of holiday bullets
fired into the sky they debated
what the other should want
My Mom asked Will I have a future
God said The past is all that is real
it has happened
The future I cannot speak
Then God lost their voice
My Mom asked Why did the firefighters let my classmate burn
to death in that car wreck
God looked down at the City
through the clouds to the parts outside the garden
Looked past the white men in heat reflective armor
past their jovial talk
to the black girl trapped in a melting cage
Burning brighter & brighter & brighter
& brighter still Then God lost their sight
My Mom asked Is life hard for you
God revealed the crucifixion marks
on their heart Three smokestacks blocking three valves
& a testing warhead in the side
Then God lost their mind
In the fantastical whimsey can turn to horror
faster than the passing of time between heart beats
Sometimes
sometimes
in this City the one with sunflower skyscrapers
the one where my Mom climbed down one
to escape God we still pray
