The Sky as Religion: A Study

Often in prayer, one looks up to their god. Why up?

If up is where gods live, how can a christian and a

pagan live under the same roof? We both look up

for answers, perhaps that’s why a question ends with

a rising inflection. Roofs point up to direct rainfall

to the ground. Rain doesn’t ask questions, hence why

it comes down. Though, sometimes when rain rejoins

its larger family, it is awakened to questions. Hitting

the bottom, the rain reaches back upward. Some would

call this Buddhism. Life in a droplet. Life / living is

seeking answers? There must be a reason dreamers

are heads in clouds—what is dreaming if not searching

while the body rests, down? “Touch the sky” though

it’s intangible—is the tangibility of the ground, of down,

what guarantees an answer? The knowing? The

intangibility of the sky suggests the gods are not, in

fact, up, but they are / it is / somewhere, unless

the moon and outer planets are the gods—an old

one, but one that could make sense. The planets

don’t have up or down. Does this sense of no

direction prove the existence of godhood? Why?

A page’s words know; they read from up. What,

however, of a capital and lowercase? Are capital letters

wondrous? Lowercase knowing? Foundations are as low

as they can be to support looking up. Building (anything)

without is advised against. How to know before asking

questions? They are the last blanket before—what? Does

it go like this: the higher up you go, the most a question can

be?, and the lower you go, the most an answer can be? Plants

reach for the sun in photosynthesis, but do they have

questions of their own, too? Graves are answers and

balloons are not. Pepper is down and stays down.

Is gravity hubris? Was Icarus seeking godliness or answers

(are they / they are / not one and the same)?

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Sierra (they/them) is a genderfluid writer based in Oregon and loves to challenge the line between poetry and reality. Some of their work can be found in Bending Genres, Main Squeeze, and Southern Exposure. They featured in the 2024 season of the Oregon Fringe Festival with their chapbook Garden Skull.