by Nolo Segundo

The God I call upon speaks every language,
knows every dialect, sees every thought,
hears every prayer, seeks every lost soul... 

The God I call upon loves Hindu and Jew,
Muslim and Quaker, Catholic and Buddhist
and I suspect He loves the lukewarm agnostic
and waits to welcome the bitterest atheist…

For the God I call upon must love each soul,
the lost as well as the found, else how could 
I or you and anyone call upon a lesser God? 
No, the God I call upon is always More,
never less, but always so much More--
endlessly More, eternally More...

Nolo Segundo, pen name of L.J.Carber, in his 70s, became a published poet in over 80 literary journals/anthologies in 7 countries (such as Heart of Flesh, Ekstasis, Time of Singing) and 2 trade book collections: The Enormity of Existence [2020] and Of Ether and Earth [2021]. The titles, like much of his work, reflect the awareness he’s had since having an NDE whilst almost drowning in a Vermont river: that he has—is—a consciousness that predates birth and survives death, what poets and other people once called the soul. Nominated for the Pushcart Prize 2022 by Spirit Fire Review, he’s retired from teaching English/ESL in America, Japan, Taiwan and Cambodia (leaving there before the time of the Killing Fields), who has been married 42 years to a smart and beautiful Taiwanese woman.