Was it a dream or a memory?
I’m not sure.
But I saw a place somewhere,
where there were shops and houses without doors.
In the poetry shop
Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, Gerard Manly Hopkins and Sylvia Plath were seated around a table
enchanted with the magic of words.
Ogden Nash came in with a dish of P’s and Q’s.
They all broke out with laughter.
I walked in and they offered me a chair.
As an amateur poet I was out of my mind with the occasion.
In the science shop
Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and the sage who discovered the wheel
were standing around a telescope.
I showed them my cell phone.
They threw up their hands and said: “What Now?”
Michelangelo, Picasso, Raphael, Norman Rockwell and Andy Warhol
were standing by the art shop looking at a cloud.
Andy said: “Not even Michelangelo can paint a cloud.”
Michelangelo laughed and said: “Who do you think I am, God?”
I remembered his sculpture of David and thought to myself
that it is as perfect as a cloud.
There were so many other shops
for everything imaginable.
I noticed the largest building,
the “Sinners Anonymous Club”.
The sign read: “All Sinners are Welcome”.
I walked in and they recognized me.
Adolph, Genghis, Judas and Pontius
and a lot of other famous and ordinary sinners
were having their 12-step fellowship.
In their midst was Jesus who said:
“This is my favorite place.”
“This is where I’m welcome, appreciated and needed.”
I stayed a good while.
The crowd swelled.
Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists,
and more sinners poured in.
Presidents, generals, movie stars, sports greats, religious leaders, composers of great music, great doers of the world.
I couldn’t believe it.
In my selfish heart I wished that I had brought a baseball
for autographs, at least the Babe’s.
I’ll never forget Jesus smiling and laughing.
It seemed like the place was filled with grace.
I had the ironic feeling that it was almost
like being in church.