Mysterious Ways
by Alan Thibeault

Simulacrum:
Some see the Virgin Mother;
others, Greta Garbo


Why would the Madonna
appear miraculously
in discernible pattern
on a toasted cheese sandwich
to be sealed hermetically
so she does not molder
as though science
randomly creates
deliberate miracles
which a random woman 
deliberately preserves?


Was her appearance
in a hospital window
more than just 
a manufacturing defect
for gawking crowds?
Has Jesus emerged from woodgrain
in full view
the same as he emerged
from burial grotto
mostly unobserved then
yet no less miraculous
for lack of audience?


Is it divine intent
to plant such things
like seeds
in this world
which will emerge
from unlikely gardens
seeking the human eye
like seedlings the sun;
God, the mad gardener,
sowing confusion
instead of faith?


In random phenomena
the yearning mind
will find the object of its desire;
in clouds, flora, fauna, fire.
Even toast.