but my Sunday School teacher says nix, He’s
eternal in Heaven and sitteth at
the right hand of God, or was that on, so
I say Yes ma’am, but He’s still dead
—that’s when she told me to leave the
classroom so I did but after class I came back
to her all alone behind her desk, her
face buried in her hands, practically
her whole head, to make her feel better
and said Ma’am, when I was out in the hallway
I saw Jesus, which got her attention
as if she’d seen the man Himself and said
Praise God, boy—now you’ve got religion and
I said Yes ma’am. And all I did was die.

Gale Acuff has had hundreds of poems published in a dozen countries and has authored three books of poetry. His poems have appeared in Ascent, Reed, Arkansas Review, Poem, Slant, Aethlon, Florida Review, Carolina Quarterly, Roanoke Review, Danse Macabre, Ohio Journal, Sou’wester, New Texas, Midwest Quarterly, Poetry Midwest, Adirondack Review, Worcester Review, Adirondack Review, Delmarva Review, Plainsongs, Chiron Review, McNeese Review, Weber, Poet Lore, Able Muse, The Font, Fine Lines, Teach.Write., Oracle, Cardiff Review, Tokyo Review, Indian Review, Muse India, Bombay Review, Westerly, and many other journals. Gale has taught tertiary English courses in the US, PR China, and Palestine.