I Wonder if God Sleepwalks

As a young person,
I read a short story
About a detective
Who solved a crime,
Discovering it was he,
The detective himself,
Sleepwalking at night –
Committing transgressions;
I wonder if God sleepwalks

When crime is glorified,
And criminals rule,
Books are banned,
And religion –
A hate propagating tool,
When the poor are preyed upon
And the disabled mocked;
I wonder if God sleepwalks

Is life a cruel joke,
And everybody burdened
By their own yoke?
We’ve come so far –
Out of the forest,
Into the fire, it seems,
But we can all get along
And talk when it’s deemed,
Still, I wonder if God sleepwalks

Is the secret to peace,
Happiness, and love
Squirreled away,
Buried deep in a chasmic safe
Free of oxygenating green trees,
Where universal keys
Have turned cosmic locks?
When so they be illusive,
When joy slips away,
I wonder if God sleepwalks.

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David Cleofas Avila is a former Peer Support Specialist with a BA in Psychology from Sonoma State University. Having experienced psychosis as a teen, and later diagnosed with schizophrenia, he writes and makes art and music to better square away the sequelae of life. His art is held in the Susan Fleming family collection, curated by L. Marx, and has been recognized by the National Arts and Disability Center at UCLA. His visual and written work appears in Peatsmoke Journal, Gabby & Min, NUNUM, Harpur Palate, Oddball Magazine, eMerge Magazine, The Poetry Cove, Flora Fiction, Breath & Shadow, Poetry for Mental Health, and Braver Collective, with his music featured in Wordgathering.