on the days you feel like dust
like messy dirt
that cannot be cleaned off
or blown away
by the smallest breath
do you not know
what the Holy One
can do with dust?
on this day
we prophetically proclaim
we are scorched
we are marked
by the sign on the cross
in honor of
what has made it through the burning
this is the time
we ask for a blessing
from this dust made of ashes
making a home
in the soil beneath us
let us be marked
not for shame
or sorrow
or even death
yet, for claiming
what the Holy One can do
with the dust
with the dirt
with the messy stuff
that swirl inside the galaxies
within the smudge
that we bear
Queering The Liturgy 