God and Wallace Stevens

The God who is, and the God who never was,
Lie hidden behind the dome of the blackbird’s eye.

*

The space between an infinite God,
A blackbird, and what the blackbird sees
Can’t be measured. The space between
A blackbird and what the blackbird sees
Is the infinity we use to talk about God.

*

The invisibility of God is an illusion
Created by a convergence of
Separate horizons in the blackbird’s eyes.

*

If God were in fact a trillion gods,
It would take a trillion blackbirds
To confirm this.

*

The blackbird’s song can be heard in the rain;
And in the silence right after.

*

For no one has ever seen God, except
The flock of circling blackbirds
In the back of every eye.


Michael Van Dyke holds a Ph.D. from Michigan State University and lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Van Dyke has previously published poems in THAT Literary Review, LEVELER, and The Cortland Review.