Jesus on the Iron Cross
By Jim Daniels
An iron cross is a gymnastics skill on the rings in which the body is suspended upright while extending the arms laterally, forming the shape of the Christian cross. It requires significant core, arm, and wrist strength.
The strongest boy in our high school
on the edge of Detroit did not play
sports—he would’ve had to cut
his long blond Samson hair
and put away his switchblade
and stop smoking dope.
The gone-to-seed coaches who taught
gym class hated him for the beauty
they could not have, harness—
unable to wipe away his grin
with endless push-ups.
He was the only one
who could do the iron cross
when we did gymnastics.
We watched his arms tremble
above us as he held the position,
worshipping at the temple
of the damned. The teachers
stood, hands on hips, teaching
us nothing, as they always did.
I was not literate enough to read
their faces as they cursed prayers
under their breath standing
beside us as he held the cross
until he could no longer
and fell to the mats
and we moved on to the rope,
to the trampoline or peg board,
as if nothing had happened, lined
up in identical blue gym shorts
and white Fitzgerald High t-shirts
with our last names scrawled
in the blue center squares.
I didn’t need that kind of literacy—
I had faith he could rise from the dead
whenever he felt like it.
Source: Poetry (January/February 2024)