How to worship

A poem in response to a niche poetry meme of Jane Lynch’s character in glee saying
‘I am going to create an environment which is so toxic’ but instead it says ‘I am going
to write a poem which is so moon’.

I am going to write a poem that is so moon
other poets will fall at my feet
cover their cheekbones in cream cheese
for me to lay stale crackers on their noses.

My moon poem will be so evangelical
1000 samurais would rather fall on 1000 swords
every time the sun rises than spend one full day awake
unilluminated by the white eye of the universe.

I am going to write a poem that is so moon
everyone who believes in jesus will feel foolish
the only time they’ve seen their deity is by staring
at thousands of drawings of a white man in sandals.

I am going to write a poem that is so unbelievably moon
those who live guarded by darkness and death
metal will eat their shoelaces when I tell them
the moon dies each month only to live again,

like the sun setting, flowers blooming and jesus, christ
and crisp like the apple tree that grows to make
shit cider drunk on street corners by men who
can’t bear to go home and cry themselves to sleep.

I am going to write a poem so moon, so fucking moon
that the big buildings made of stone and stained glass
directing light through blood red lose the power to make
knees weak enough to pray the darkness away.

Instead, my moon poem will convert skeptics
from the darkest corners of the internet
because her shape is supple as the letter
and her form could never be anything but hourglass.

My moon poem will reveal her face to be
the most ancient of clocks, replace sundials
with moon watches, each time she blinks we
fall deeper into shadows and closer to soft mud.

This poem will be so moon, every time the sun comes back
he will die with jealousy at her freedom fighters
eternal eclipse, us, silver concrete and limbs
closer to the earth and memory that if nature wants to kill she will.

Ella Sadie Guthrie is a writer who often fails at being funny. After studying her NCTJ she moved into spoken word, going on to perform at an array of London poetry nights and the House of Commons. In 2019 she co-founded WRIOT, a poetry collective for womxn and non-binary poets. You can hear her talk about poetry and music every Wednesday on Trickstar Radio, but mostly she spends her time walking along Brighton seafront and daydreaming.

Her words have appeared in Lucent Dreaming, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Hecate Magazine, Drawn to the Light and Dreich Magazine. Find her on Twitter @ellasadieog and on Instagram @ellasadieog.