looking directly into God's eyes

1. A red wedding dress, complete with matching train and veil, for sale in a

bridal shop window.  2. A gecko chases a tarantula into a drainpipe.  3. A pine

tree grows out of the split in another, larger pine tree.  4. A turtle, de-shelled

by the pavement, after the man in the car speeding in front of me throws it 

out the window.  5. A huge, white spider, species unknown, sits on my big

brother's chest as he naps on the couch.  6. The tarantula chases the gecko back

out of the drainpipe.  7. On a crowded city street, a woman who, after the wind

blows her skirt up and reveals that she isn't wearing underwear, laughs and

bows for the sidewalk audience.  8. A man clips and eats his fingernails on a 

city bus.  9. A black bear sleeping on the roof of a Catholic church rolls over the

edge and falls safely, still sleeping, through a car sunroof into the driver's seat. 

10. A hummingbird--that somehow made its way into our refrigerator--flies

out when my sister opens the door, then confusedly hovers above the

dining table just before it escapes out the window.  11. Dangerously tired as 

I drive home to the reservation, I am startled awake by an impossibly bright 

explosion that turns out to be the Northern Lights, which makes me think

I'm looking directly into God's eyes.  12. A Monarch butterfly perches on the

damp nose of a dog that waits patiently and silently, for at least three minutes,

until that butterfly rises away.  13. My Little League son, age eight, catches 

a hot grounder, tags the base and a surprised runner, for the first unassisted

double play of his life.  14. Am I defined by what I've seen, or do I define

the world by what I've witnessed? O, what beautiful or terrible thing waits

around the next corner? Who isn't in love with this mystery?

[Sherman Alexie, 'Sonnet, With Some Things That I Have Seen', from What I've Stolen, What I've Earned]