Theologies for Korah

On a lesser diet than that of the wretched

rests a prophecy: some of us come to prepare.

I stood before my god, at a foreign altar,

and promised to guide you; me, with my heretic

theology. I practice the ways passed to me

by descendants of followers of a wild man:

followers in the desert downwind of his musk,

listening to him confess himself unfit to

loose latchets on shoes; they believed his words holy,

ignored bits of insect wing in his beard. And then,

he told them of a dove that no one else could see.

I have learned to retain my head while speaking truth.

rite of the baptism of children

Do I reject the glamor of evil? I do.

You are creation — the same after water and

after the Holy Spirit, only now you see

the door to life and unto the Kingdom of God.

Do not feel the need of any claimant to royal

priesthood. Some ancient, calling himself Peter, must

have been in his cups when he wrote that ish. The nerve!

You were cleansed with water by power of the Word.

Sign of the Cross? Phooey! There is no miracle

in an instrument of death. See: Martin Luther,

theses 5, 16, 28, and 95.

God made no symbols; people did, et cetera.

some thoughts on caterina benincasa

Not much older than you when she first saw the Christ

— seated in glory with few of His disciples —

who gave her many gifts: a consummate marriage

by way of His foreskin; the blesséd stigmata;

and her head as a bag of rose petals. To “build

a cell inside your mind,” a cell of self-knowledge,

is good advice, my child. The Christ commanded her

to open the eye of her intellect and gaze

into Him. This made her secularly gifted,

a power broker. Read her correspondence, yes,

the letters of a lunatic diplomat but

heeded, virtuous sweet amorous Word of God.

ephphatha rite

He sighed. All power in heaven and in earth is.

Be opened. Hear and speak the truth but tell no one

how. Superior to the purifications

of Old Law was that water. Be opened, daughter.

All power in heaven and earth is. No questions.

Be opened. Hold fast to my teachings, not those of

stewards but my words. Seek you first, girl, the kingdom

of my love, with all your mind. All your mind. Do not

forget your mind. You are mine. Be opened. Power!

Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becomes

us to fulfill all righteousness. All power in

heaven and in earth is given me. Be opened.

coda patrinalis

In the land of mama there is a cathedral,

the cathedral of the Holy Spirit. Inside

is an icon, an image of Theotokos.

Once old enough to go solo, after an age

of discernment is reached, perhaps in passing by,

go there. Make your way up the nave and to the right;

there you will find her looking at you, babe in arm,

tired and anemic as usual. Bless her

with a kiss and make her holy. Bless the babe, too,

if feeling generous. Use a chair if needed.

It is a painting. Simple miracles were made

on a lesser diet than that of the wretched.