Descending Theology: The Crucifixion

by Mary Karr To be crucified is first to lie down on a shaved tree, and then to have oafs stretch you out on a crossbar as if for flight, then thick spikes      fix you into place. Once the cross pops up and the pole stob sinks vertically in an earth hole perhaps at an awkward list, […]

At this hour we all might be anyone: It is only our victim who is without a wish Who knows already (that is what We can never forgive. If he knows the answers, Then why are we here, why is there even dust?) Knows already that, in fact, our prayers are heard, That not one […]

Station #12 – Christ’s Body is Removed from the Cross Meal the footboneshammer-crack thecuneiforms wedgethe tarsals peelthe formless footflesh back overthe nailheadshe dont walkhe dead.Tug the legs til hishands rip he fallweighs the same aseach dead man This was done for a Lenten art project at our church where members contributed poetry and visuals to […]

Horae Canonicae – Sext

W.H. Auden I You need not see what someone is doingto know if it is his vocation, you have only to watch his eyes:a cook mixing a sauce, a surgeon making a primary incision,a clerk completing a bill of lading, wear the same rapt expression,forgetting themselves in a function. How beautiful it is,that eye-on-the-object look. […]

Horae Canonicae – Terce

W.H. Auden After shaking paws with his dog,(Whose bark would tell the world that he is always kind,)The hangman sets off briskly over the heath;He does not know yet who will be providedTo do the high works of Justice with:Gently closing the door of his wife’s bedroom,(Today she has one of her headaches)With a sigh […]

Horae Canonicae – Prime

W.H. Auden Simultaneously, as soundlessly,Spontaneously, suddenlyAs, at the vaunt of the dawn, the kindGates of the body fly openTo its world beyond, the gates of the mind,The horn gate and the ivory gateSwing to, swing shut, instantaneouslyQuell the nocturnal rummageOf its rebellious fronde, ill-favored,Ill-natured and second-rate,Disenfranchised, widowed and orphanedBy an historical mistake:Recalled from the shades […]