And the Lord called to man, and He said to him, ​“Where are you?” —Bereishit 3:9

In the begin­ning we clock out & rev our Camaros

until the red lights down Mar­ket Street go green. Oh reverse

ripen­ing, we grow far­ther & farther

from our sweet spots until, back home,

we fill our baths & knock knock—

Who’s there? ​“Do you have time to talk?”

Do you have time to talk

who? ​“Do you have time to talk about

the Lord?” Mis­sion­ar­ies never

get us off. ​“In the begin­ning — ” We point to mezuzahs,

lock up the doors, slide over the chains,

get in our tubs, crack open some Coors & then

knock knock in the beginning

we read Roth in the bath,

his books all the same: ​“Those who tempt you

with fruit are, by the end,

going to make you

get nose jobs” knock knock In the beginning

there is shit-tons of dark­ness then

light then infi­nite grapes so wine

is real cheap like Franzia a week

of its good­ness & then drunk in our tubs so suddenly

struck by our bod­ies we’re asked

like Adam ​“Where are you” & we speak of Ohio

as Roth spoke of Newark

until the voice inter­rupts from some awful distance,

“ — and who told you that you are naked?”