Personal Jesus

This post is a little bit different from what I usually share on here. Below is a poem I wrote, entitled 'Personal Jesus'. Although this is a personal blog, rather than an artistic one, I think the two are necessarily intertwined. Poetry is one of the many different ways in which I try to make sense of my experiences, so it seems only right that I share it with my lovely readers here. One of the wisest people I know once told me that no great writer has a happy childhood. At a dark time in my life, he made me see that something good could come from my pain. Sir, if you're reading this, thank you. This is for you.

Personal Jesus

Saved through my own blood.

The cross I bear is red and raised

And its jagged edge is my crown of thorns.

He will wipe every tear from your eyes there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away

I am my own prophet, and this is my song.

My native language is bitter and burns my mouth when I speak

Like a too-sharp berry that makes you wince.

But when the Spirit comes to me, I speak in tongues of hope.

I wonder why he has forsaken me, but the question ricochets

Like a tennis ball hurled against a wall in an impotent tantrum

Ready to get revenge on the thrower.

If you have no faith, you have no scapegoat.

Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?

Perhaps I am a foolish woman.

Justice rolls on like a river

In my veins.

A tidal wave that shakes my blood, pushing it through the estuaries of my body

Until it shews forth in action.

He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds

But I am the one who covers each sin with love

And Steri-Strips.

My tears dilute the weeping blood.

Agape is saline.

The frivolous lovers’ note is carved in the bark of my skin.

Me, myself and I

The holy threesome.

What they see as hatred is a love so tender it burns through your flesh.

He suffered so that we may live.

As long as you’re bleeding, you’re still alive.

This is my body

Which is for me.

I do this in remembrance of me.

Amen.