They asked if I was a pantheist, and I said yes-- I see the sparks of God in everything, divine intelligence in every grain of sand, holy light permeating the distant dark of space. They asked if I was a panentheist, and I said oh, yes-- there is godliness in all we see, and also gods grown out past the borders of time: aunts and cousins and grandmother gods in brilliant bodies, spirit coursing eternity through their veins. Then they asked if I was a polytheist, and I said only on days when I see the god-to-be waiting behind your eyes. And they asked if I was a henotheist, and I said, listen, Israel, there are gods and gods across the omniverse but the God I worship is one. So they asked if I was a monotheist, and I said it's true there's just one Way to be God... and without it, God's own godhood would cease. So they asked if I was an atheist. And I told them: if God stops being good, then creation itself should disbelieve.
This was one of my favorites from the reading retreat, James!
Nice twists throughout and especially in the last stanza - thanks.
My theology as well. So clever and lovely.