In Sunday School today my teacher said

Gale Acuff

that Jesus is the answer so I raised
my hand to have some fun and she called on
me and I said What’s the question but no
-body laughed least of all her and only
I laughed but laughing at your own jokes don’t
count–doesn’t, I mean–and then she said Gale,
you will leave this classroom, it sounded like
a prediction and not just a command
but anyway I did and went outside
and around back to the cemetery
where one day all of us will lie, that is
if we’re not living and dying someplace
else but anyplace we’ll still rot away
save for our souls. They’ll go up just like hands.

Gale Acuff has had poetry published in AscentReed, Journal of Black Mountain College Studies, Maryland Poetry Review, The Font, Chiron Review, PoemAdirondack Review, Florida ReviewSlantArkansas Review, South Dakota ReviewRoanoke Review, and many other journals in a dozen countries. Gale has authored three books of poetry: Buffalo Nickel, The Weight of the World, and The Story of My Lives.