Gale Acuff
When I croak I'll go to Hell for sinning
even though Jesus died for mine, my sins
I mean because the truth is I don't be
-lieve that He's the Son of God and if I
don't believe that He's the Son of God I'm
screwed for Eternity, that's what they teach
or maybe only preach at Sunday School
so after class I told my teacher and
hung my head for extra impact that I
can't go for the Resurrection because
when you're dead you're dead and there's just no proof
that dead folks return to life either here
on Earth or up in Heaven and she said
I get you, Gale, it is hard to believe,
and then smiled. So I guess she's the Devil.
Bio
Gale Acuff has had hundreds of poems published in a dozen countries and has authored three books of poetry. His poems have appeared in Ascent, Reed, Arkansas Review, Poem, Slant, Aethlon, Florida Review, South Carolina Review, Carolina Quarterly, Roanoke Review, Danse Macabre, Ohio Journal, Sou'wester, South Dakota Review, North Dakota Quarterly, New Texas, Midwest Quarterly, Poetry Midwest, Adirondack Review, Worcester Review, Connecticut River Review, Delmarva Review, Maryland Literary Review, George Washington Review, Pennsylvania Literary Journal, Ann Arbor Review, Plainsongs, Chiron Review, George Washington Review, McNeese Review, Weber, War, Literature & the Arts, Poet Lore, Able Muse, The Font, Fine Lines, Teach.Write., Oracle, Hamilton Stone Review, Sequential Art Narrative in Education, Cardiff Review, Tokyo Review, Indian Review, Muse India, Bombay Review, Westerly, and many other journals. Gale has taught tertiary English courses in the US, PR China, and Palestine.