Monday, April 1, 2013

God's Kitchen


    Image by Jacek Yerka, Between Heaven and Hell

I have always imagined God as a woman;
and though She is timeless, 
She looks to be
(to me) 
in her middle-sixties.

I picture Her with
wavy salt and pepper hair
 and sparkling eyes -
not unlike my undergraduate adviser
Margaret Odegard,
who would throw back her head
and laugh a magnificent laugh if she knew.
(And so would God, because
I’m quite sure She has
 an outstanding sense of humor.)

God does not, however, wear tweed like Dr. O.
In my mind She dresses in sunbeams, starlight,
clouds, hemp and linen. 
And sensible shoes. 
God did NOT create high heels.

And most assuredly God would have a cat in Her kitchen.
And rows and rows of pots and crocks and jars
 filled with darkness and light and creeping things,
and baskets of stars,
and bushels of peaches,
and a huge stoppered bottle
full of annoying people,
and another with mosquitoes
and large bin of dinosaurs and sea monsters
all mixed up together. 

Then She created the Earth and saw that it was good.
But She knew She could do better…
particularly if She went easier on
 the obnoxious people and the mosquitoes;
so She keeps trying.

And in spite of Genesis,
I think God spends
every Sunday afternoon
cooking up new worlds.
So that's where She can be found,
in Her wonderfully cluttered kitchen.

And by the way, you’re always welcome in
for a chat and a cuppa.’


For the Writing prompt offered by The Mag.  Also posted at Imaginary Garden with Real Toads Open Link Night.  They are doing a prompt a day for April, National Poetry Month.


34 comments:

  1. Delightful vision of woman as god ... definitely my kind of kitchen. Ready for a chat and a cuppa!!!

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  2. ha, i rather like god as a woman...and def needs a cat in the kitchen....haha i like the annoying people being in a bottle as well...lol...but knew she could do better if...ha, you gave me a nice afternoon chuckle mary...

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  3. Obnoxious people going away, that would be a grand day. Like God as a she too.

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  4. A delight :) God as a woman, I like it!

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  5. If I have to choose a gender to immerse myself in as a servant, then I choose God to be female. I love how God is always creating things new, even from that which already exists. I loved the idea of a kitchen, where the sweetest, most life-sustaining creations emanate. Loved this, Mosk

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  6. without a doubt God has to have a sense of humor..like you! I like the stoppered bottle idea, too.

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  7. This is wonderful. And certainly what I see a God being. Only a vengeful one would let the mosquitoes loose. Figured she did not have a choice on the annoying people.

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  8. Ah, I love this Mary! Such wonderful imagery!

    "And by the way, you’re always welcome in
    for a chat and a cuppa.’"

    Exactly the benevolent benefactress I would picture!

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  9. What a beautiful and creative poem. Your words captivated me from start to finish.

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  10. I love your beautiful view! God knows how to laugh and enchant us at the same time! ;D

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  11. Love this image of God. Beautiful. And totally agree with you that God did not create high heels.

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  12. Have you read The Shack? Your poem reminds me of it. Very nice poem. :-)

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  13. Thank you all - I'm visiting your blogs even if I don't respond here.

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  14. Mary, I lived every minute of your poem. I love it. I am sure that God put in all or more of the effort, yet having fun, that you wrote of.

    I loved Her keeping some of the animals in that kitchen. There may have been a Unicorn, girls seems to have a liking for those.
    ..

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  15. Perfect timing Mary , after several thousand years of stultifying patriarchy , we are ready for God to be a woman again , a perfect fit for our soon to be sustainable harmonious way of living . Marija Gimbutas recalls the last time in " gods and goddesses of old Europe", and Merlin Stones " when God was a woman ". Strange , luminous creatures , we humans !

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  16. Oh, yes, the cat, and the bottle full of annoying people, just perfect.
    Having recently arrived on the shady side of my mid-sixties, I can completely relate to this lovely God of yours, who did NOT create high heels (but who was surely tempted to try one on).
    K

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  17. enjoyed your poem and descriptions

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  18. This was such fun. I caught every image. Is the cat a familiar? Is God not only female, but Wiccan? I think that would be kind of cool.

    I guess I look like God now, at 56, enough snow on the rooftop.

    When people insist that God is male, I tell them, "OK, but Wisdom, the Holy Spirit," (who was there at creation too, even though the Book gives God all the credit) "must be female. Who else could be 12,846 places at one time??"

    Fun and food for thought. Thanks! Amy

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  19. I've never doubted that God had a sense of humour! I especially like the stanza in which you list all the things one might find in her kitchen.

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  20. A great image you conjure up here. Enjoyed it.

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  21. Yup, I can go along with (pretty well all of) this! Great write.

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  22. That was totally brilliant! Loved it. Just this morning, I was draft a poem about making my own God so that, as an atheist, I could talk to people about God and be sincere. And if I had had an advisor like yours, I may use yours since She is so good. But I guess I'll just have to make my own. I hope ours can be friends -- I love her spooky, fickle and friendly nature! ;-)

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  23. Wow ! what a lovely job you did with this, such a fabulous conversation!
    You have gotten me thinking about Gods Kitchen. Thanks- : )

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  24. How perfect!! You're so smart....of course this is God's kitchen! That is how I imagine God too: in hemp and sandals, cooking up perfection.

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  25. I love your interpretation of the picture ~ Why not, I think its wonderful to sit and have a chat with God in her kitchen ~

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  26. God as a woman..love that. It is amazing you even saw her in that cluttered kitchen. :)

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  27. This is such fun, Mary. I am totally with you on the high heels, mosquitoes and obnoxious people, and the way the kitchen is stocked. I especially love

    filled with darkness and light and creeping things,
    and baskets of stars,
    and bushels of peaches...

    yes!

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  28. Brilliant, clever poem, Mary! (But ya gotta figure God is androgynous, you know...kinda like David Bowie!)
    Love your latest profile photo. Hot hot hot...

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  29. interesting..... I loved the images you created....

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  30. all htose annoying pople, except for the cat, cuz the cat is NEVEr annoying

    where is the food when mother is not?

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  31. Thanks all for your comments! I'm not answering here, but will stop in and read some of your lovely poetry!

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  32. The cat would probably stage a resistance war, throw her over & assume the position of God. ~Mary

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    1. Oh, maybe the cat already did - and I just drew the wrong conclusion! lol

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  33. Lovely tribute to the Divine Feminine...

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