Dog Tooth and Bird Beak 

We build churches
to the gods we imagine
watch over us.
And because
gods live forever
we build churches out of stone
so they can too.
Monuments to the invisible
powers we let rule
over us and shelter
for the men and women
who come to sing their praise.
But because we are human
and bore easily
the mason, or his apprentice,
etch a simple tracery
in the corners and dark spaces
as a reminder of the lesser gods
we share this planet with:
dog tooth and bird beak.
A furtive scrimshaw
while the gods and vicar
aren’t looking. Signature
on a painting no one is meant to see.
We bite and claw our way
through the world, pretending
we are better off
than we appear. Somehow
protected from whatever
comes next. Trying hard
not to show how easily
we are distracted
by the least flutter, growl, or warble
the bright green world
has waiting for us
outside.

—Andrew Gent

Seed: The title comes in part ("dog tooth") or as a whole ("dog tooth and bird beak") from several sources related to English Church architecture.

Source: Our Homeland Churches and How to Study Them, by Sidney Heath (1907) and Folly in Grounds of Beane River View from the Historic England website.

Andrew Gent is a poet and information architect. He lives in New Hampshire. His first book of poetry is [explicit lyrics] published by the University of Arkansas Press in 2016.