the total cost

to those struggling to stay afloat,

performing that ever-amusing

balancing act, standing on the raft

of dwindling “faith,” while the river

of rationality, science & reason

continues without pause

to flow stronger than

ever down below---

that is, when you look at the age

range of folks dropping out

of the cesspool of organized

religion here in the belly of the

empire, one finds finally

that “the belief in the existence of

god has dropped 15 points in the

last five years among americans

30 and under”---so as age

drops, so does the willful wading in

bullshit &

so for those still standing on the

raft, refusing to learn how to swim,

refusing to give up on writing off

everything in this world for a better

one after they die,

what will be the total

cost, when that last bit of

belief falls through the fingers

once comfortably held “praying”

in silent desperation? 

when the one changing your diapers

doesn’t feel like wheeling you down

to the church, because s/he doesn’t

see the point, how long will it take

you to figure out just how much of

the energy in your life, just how many

years (that you’ll never get back)

you wasted on these fantasies

dreamt up by people who refused to

allow the education of the women

they traded like cattle, who thought

the earth was flat like a sheet of

paper & who felt that bloodletting might

be the proper way of getting rid of

a stomach bug?