In Defense of 21st-Century Christians

Thomas Quitzau

July 2, 2023

As Canadian wildfire smoke migrates

South over this otherwise pristine land,

Orangey the sunlight, hazy the air

Sending us inside, again, not again

Easy to imagine how bigger fires

Easily darkened this place to blackness.

Harder to see people are saved alone

Yet among many, and any attempts

To thin the crowds of city sunflowers

Will make us only grow closer, closer

More easily saved from fires, floods, famines

More readily trained to eternal bliss

Together alone, alone together

Not apart thanks to the Spirit—One sent

Yes, into the blazes of forgiveness

Into the traps, set by woken homies

To embrace the homeless, the destitute

The weak standing equal with the strong suits

The rules unwinding, obliquely guiding

People peaking out at 8 billion strong

Fumbling and eventually fading:

Smog finding vines and golden sunflowers.

7 June 2023

Long Island, New York

Thomas Quitzau grew up in the Gulf Coast region and worked for over 30 years in Houston, Texas. A self-ascribed member of the ZenJourno School of poetry, Tom recently relocated with his family to Long Island, New York where he teaches and writes.