In the Beginning
In the beginning, there was a primordial ooze. And in this ooze was everything there was, is, and ever will be. God (small ‘g’) saw this and decided it was in need of some help. There was welter, there was waste, and there was disorder. So god—having severe Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (or is it Obsessive Creative Disorder?)— compartmentalized the world.
He put the sun, stars, lightbulbs, and glow sticks into a large kettle and mixed it up. He saw the lightness inside and the darkness outside and decided to call the soup ‘Day’ and the kettle ‘Night.’ He tasted the soup and saw that it was good.
He put the ice, rivers, dews, and clouds into a pitcher and laid a hundred individual cups out around it. He saw the wetness inside and the dryness outside and decided to call the wet ‘Ocean’ and the dry ‘Land.’ He took a sip from a fresh glass and saw that it was good.
He put the broccolis, wheats, chickens, and great whites into the oven after setting it to preheat at 415°F and let them rise. He saw the greens and called them ‘Plants’ and the meats ‘Animals.’ He took a deep sniff when the cake was done and saw that there was a dash too much raccoon, but it was too late now.
The men and women that smelled of dust and dried urine came in from the rain and grabbed some of the soup, poured some of the water, sliced a piece of the cake, and named them Campbell’s, Dasani, and birthday, respectively. He saw that they needed clothes, as they were in old rags and dried cardboard peelings, and he provided it for them. And god looked at them and called them by name: ‘The Least of These.’ And he thought, “Ya know, I think there’s a lesson in here somewhere,” and chuckled to himself.
He was finally able to rest at 7:00 in the morning.
Andrew Ellis is annoying, infuriating, agitating, provoking, engaging, encouraging, all the things that make a person interesting. His work has appeared in TeenInk and the Ohio Poetry Association Common Threads. He survives off of Mountain Dew and peanut butter M&Ms.