Healers

I encountered a scaffold

outside the Holy Trinity Church in Vladimir, Russia.

At first I didn’t notice her

slumped against the side of the church — 

she was pretty small for a scaffold, pretty un-

assuming. Her safety mesh

was torn in places and sun-bleached all over

and threatened to dislodge

due to a forceful wind that was typical

of the season. She was shaking.

She was fundamentally insecure.

She told me that good foundations are essential

and that the men who had put her together

hadn’t taken advantage of the right opportunities.

Now, each day, someone came by

called her “unsafe” and also “a liability”

then left, failing to initiate the dismantling process

that yes would have been painful

and slow, but kinder.

International visitors to the church

blamed her for the mess of tools and rags

on the grounds and for the fact

that they could no longer see

the church’s celebrated mural

depicting Saint Artemy of Verkola

unusually pious

highly venerated

child saint killed by lightning.

His dead body radiated light

never showed signs of decay

and was in fact said to have effected

multiple miracles of healing.

I said comforting things to the scaffold

but she only seemed to lean more heavily

against the side of the church.

We are rarely independent structures she said

before she dropped a bolt pin

which released a long section of tube

which released another bolt pin

which released several wooden boards

that scraped another tube

and made an unbearable sound.