Asking by Dan Fante

I have a pronounced NPR addiction. I heard a snippet of an interview with Dan Fante on Fresh Air this evening. This is a poem entitled Asking from his new novel, 86'd.

For years I thought that
talking to the Gods
was an exercise
done privately
under
unforgiving
distant stars
ridiculous unrequited prayer
done by staring
at old cold books
with mean small print
But then I discovered
that just
ain’t
it at all
God can be found in the ‘thank you’ voice of the guy at the counter
at the 7-11
or
the quietness of a stranger’s parking lot smile
or
the rattle of weeds across a dry summer Mojave
or
watching my untethered fingers jump jump jumping
across the keys
deep in the middle of typing three hours worth of truth
God – for me – turned out to be
a conscious choice
a self-evoked experience
just
like
love