The Magnitude of God – Miriam Green

The magnitude of God
reaches 7.0 in Léogâne,
6.6 in Christ Church,
8.9 off the coast of Honshu
where the earth still rumbles.
It thrusts tectonic plates together
24 meters below the sea,
moves the Japanese land mass 2.4 meters
and shifts Earth’s axis 8 centimeters.

The magnitude of Man
breaches the quiet of a Sabbath
night in Itamar, enters
an open window
and stabs
5 members of a family to death.
Only a blip on the security fence
marks its trajectory.