God gave me arthritis, twisted joints & inflamed nerve / God gave me a wife / God gave me a student loan / I said this debt is insurmountable / God gave me a pet dog / God gave my dog arthritis, twisted joints & inflamed nerve / God gave me a home / I said I can’t afford the mortgage / God gave me a flood / God gave me a teapot / I burnt my hand on boiling water / God gave me shimmering cysts / God scraped the earwax from my throbbing canals / my power went out / God gave me tired / God gave me directions / I lost the map like a pirate his treasure / God gave me a light / I smoked it all up / God gave me a body / I said wait it doesn’t fit quite right / God gave my wife arthritis, twisted joints & inflamed nerve / God gave me a job / I showed up late & got fired / God gave me white spots on the brain / God gave me an MRI / God gave me a CAT scan / God picked out my maple wood coffin / God said I’m sorry my gifts are not enough
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Remi Recchia is the author of Quicksand/Stargazing (Cooper Dillon Books, 2021); he is currently a Ph.D. candidate in English-Creative Writing at Oklahoma State University, where he serves as an associate editor for the Cimarron Review. A five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Remi has work published or soon to appear in World Literature Today, Best New Poets 2021, Harpur Palate, and Juked, among others. He holds an M.F.A. in poetry from Bowling Green State University.