God, A Poem by James Fenton

Through his lighthearted manner, James Fenton discusses the serious concept and belief in God, and all that He provides to the average person.  He initially blames God for commonplace, unpleasant events, such as "a drawing-pin caught in your sock."  After listing a few humorously unpleasant events, Fenton claims that these unpleasant events are "all that you'll get from th'Almighty," and that the afterlife is not any more pleasant than that.  He then goes on to claim that God does not care about major catastrophes, such as the Flood, nor is he responsible for amazing phenomenon, such as Salvation.  In this poem, God claims to be "a crude existential malpractice."  God then uses the same unpleasant events to describe the speaker, saying that he also will be no better in the afterlife or be seen better after he has died.  Fenton describes the common struggle we, as a society, have with religion and grappling with the idea of an existing higher power, in which the extent that God sees, is responsible for, and cares about is questionable.  In this way, this poem is very relatable to the common person.  Fenton expresses a belief that God is truly responsible for very little, yet can determine each individual's outcome.  This idea goes along with the belief of an unjust, unmerciful higher power.  In addition, Fenton also expresses the idea that God is not fully aware of every person on the planet, that we, as individuals, are truly insignificant.