My Voices

My voices are not god
I make no claims to hear the divine
I am neither Adam
          Nor Noah
          Nor Hagar
          Nor Mary
          Nor Joan
They are none of Ferlinghetti’s wiggy prophets

I am not one of the many that history
Tells us had conversations with god
And yet –
Who can say where my voices come from
Are they less important than that
Which Moses heard on the mountain
Are they any less real
These voices
My voices
Are a significant part of my life
They sustain me
I am not arrogant enough to tell others
To listen to or believe in my voices
Why are they so intent on taking
          My voices from me
They electrocute me
Pump me full of poison
At time I understand how Joan must have felt
          As the flames grew higher
I have faith in my voices
Why would you take that faith from me

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Howard Moon is a writer and poet. His writing and poetry have appeared in multiple collections and anthologies, Small Change, Montana Mouthful, Das Literarisch Journal, Of Poets and Poetry, Native Skin, Breath and Shadow, Ariel Chart, and more. He has won national, local and regional awards for writing.

He is of Native heritage and identifies as BIPOC. In 2012 he suffered a brain injury and has been diagnosed with a mental illness — Pseudobulbar Affect. He has also been diagnosed as a hemipelagic.
He is retired and lives in central Florida with his wife.