First Responder

Yesterday …
was the first time I heard the trans person
in the gym, gorgeous baritone.
I was naked in the shower
and my first response was, “that’s cool!”
and my second response was
“O my God, that was my
first response.”

God did it, because, you see,
I’d been praying
for a long, long time to be
less politically correct
and more, well … converted.

(not that I have anything against –
fake it till you make it)

I got to work praying
right there with the shampoo
all over my head —
I told Jesus it would be all right
to change my mind —
about a woman with hijab and a backpack,
a young black man whose ancestors
were on this soil
much longer than mine,
serious fundamentalists
who fatherfatherfatherfather
their way through every prayer,
republicans who are not
Susan Collins.

Yesterday …
today and tomorrow
God is in the miracle business,
in the business
of trans-figuration.