The Mad Poet of the Year blog posts share the poetry of a long-time Mad Poet. This year-long appointment provides readers with a deep dive of the writer’s work and thoughts on poetry. We are thrilled to have R. G. Evans serve as the Mad Poet of the Year for 2022.
THE INVENTION OF THE HEART
by R.G. Evans
God made a fist and that was that.
Watch this! He said to the archangels
and began pumping his fingers
the way a farmer might milk a cow
once He invented farmers and cows.
God marveled at how white his knuckles looked
when he squeezed them tight and trembling,
so He invented blood and filled his fist
with it like water in a balloon.
Soon God’s fist was pumping on its own.
It terrified Him the way it pulsed and throbbed,
so He threw it down into the dirt and covered it
the way He knew that cats would cover their waste.
Then, also like cats would do once He invented them,
He walked away disinterested.
But the fist kept right on throbbing,
and the dirt began to feel, to breathe,
to long for other piles of dirt
that did not pump in return.
God never looked back, leaving the dirt
to teach itself about the thumping it couldn’t prevent.
Soon God grew heavy bored,
found Lucifer, His brightest angel,
stretched one hand out in a way
that reminded him to one day invent Michelangelo,
and said, Luci, bubala, pull my finger.
This month’s poem: something for Valentine’s Day, something for lovers.
R.G. Evans’s books include Overtipping the Ferryman (Aldrich Poetry Press Prize), The Holy Both, and Imagine Sisyphus Happy. His original songs were featured in the poetry documentaries All That Lies Between Us and Unburying Malcolm Miller, and his collection of original songs, Sweet Old Life, is available on most streaming platforms. Evans teaches creative writing at Rowan University. Website: www.rgevanswriter.com