May the Devil Not Hear
Jill Tabot


 
I read the book of Job last night — I don’t think God comes well out of it.
—Virginia Woolf
 
God doesn’t hand out suitcases
Too big to carry. He’s just trying
To get you stronger. Why the uneven
Distribution? There’s a reason—there’s
A universe playing a card game—he’s
Just looking for something to stick, maybe
For a way out of the game he created.
 
Knock on wood.
 
If your suitcase is bigger than your house--
Or somebody else’s house—if you don’t
Have a house—it’s all in the stars, in the cards.
And if somebody else has a particularly
Heavy load, and you help em out, you may
Get a ticket into heaven.
 
Knock twice.
 
Train leaves tonight.
No need to pack.
 










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About the Author: Jill Talbot's writing has appeared in Geist, Rattle, Poetry Is Dead, The Puritan, Matrix, subTerrain, The Tishman Review, The Cardiff Review, PRISM, Southword, and others . Jill won the PRISM Grouse Grind Lit Prize. She was shortlisted for the Matrix Lit POP Award for fiction and the Malahat Far Horizons Award for poetry. Jill lives on Gabriola Island, BC.

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