God Got a Dog (book review)

Every now and then, I'll include a book review because, um, did I mention I'm a librarian? I read. I mostly read children's and teen books, and sometimes I read non-fiction (about, you guessed it, health and fitness and bodies).

The best day is when the new books come in. God Got a Dog is a book of poems by Cynthia Rylant. Poems from God's perspective, alternating between being a man and being a woman, about the kind of small daily things we often take for granted. Like eating spaghetti. It's an updated, illustrated version of God Went to Beauty School, originally published in 2003. Rylant's poems humanize God, and by doing so bring humour, wit, and insight to common human experiences, like loneliness, eating, and body image.

The one that stands out, that makes me think both "Hey, I AM GOD!" and "Gee, if God is insecure about her body, then what do I have to worry about?", is called God Took a Bath.

---

God took a bath

With Her clothes on.
Her robe, to be specific.
Why did She do this?
She was shy,
that's why.
A little self-conscious
about Her body.
God wasn't always
this way.
She used to be free as a bird,
running stark naked
everywhere.
She never thought
about bodies at all.
Then these things
started coming back to Her.
The whole misunderstanding
with Adam and Eve.
Then circumcision.
Then talk talk talk
of everybody being made
in Her image.
Until She got afraid
to look in a mirror.
Everybody had such
high expectations
and now She was
a little insecure.
Could be She was flabby.
Love handles on God
would have to be HUGE.

So She kept Her robe on.

illustrations by Marla Frazee