Everything
he ever laid a blue-veined compassionate hand
on
even the one with the
spear
that touched Him
through a shaft of wood
and a head of
metal
many of us
are built like that
dense and piercing
killing that
we’ve only just begun
to love
Jesus smelled like that
like unrequited love
and passion
sorrow
and
awe
fear turned upside down
becomes a chalice
capable of filling
but we all know
to feel satisfied
You must
Drink
Jesus smelled like that
like wine and fish
and transformation
like the unconditional love of
the lowliest quotient of
Creation
elevated
recognized
seen through fearless eyes
washed in
perfumed reverence
Jesus smelled like that
like song and prayers
and temptation
like temple currency
Overturned
glistening in the mid day sun
till some wondrous and famished
Child
picks it up
Jesus smelled like that
like Animals
and Anger and
Angels
like longing
for one good reason
to quit
to give up
find another avenue of
Salvation
but in the end
there’s no good reason
to quit anything
Love keeps you
punched in
working overtime
in this life
or the
next
on the things we
can’t
forgive
or forget
Jesus smells like
that
oh yeah
and You
Jesus smells
like
You
Vinny, I so love this poem. Thank you for giving it flight. It surprised and delighted me in print. Now, deep in the night of Maundy Thursday, it has stained my cheeks. Jesus smells like that, like tears and low tides and fresh baked bread. Like fish and strolls on swells but not always swell for us with upset stomachs. Jesus smells like that. The sea and the sand and me wanting him so. And your poem opened that up. Thank you.
Rick, you’ve made a poem of a poem 🙂 I LOVE IT !!!!! Lets keep it going, the madness and the muse, the openness to appreciation. I am grateful, TY
Your poem is heart-opening and evocative. I adore it–every time I read it. “Love keeps you punched in overtime” is a phrase that I feel at a cellular level in my life right now.
Tricia, thanks so much for your words, ” heart-opening” is one of the highest compliments i could ever receive. 🙂 I think it’s almost always why we write, to open ours, and potentially invite others to do the same.. I am grateful for the way the muse moves through you, with artful depth and inspiring introspection, Blessings….
Vinny, thank you for this exquisite poem. I love the immediacy of the sense of smell and the way it deepens a reader’s idea of incarnation. Smell is our most earthy, bodily sense, and it’s also the one most closely linked to memory, as smells are processed directly in areas of the brain associated with memory and emotion. It brings new meaning to Jesus’ request, “Do this in memory of me.”
Thank you Margret 🙂