Stations of the Cross, 2008 – Based on a photo of an Iraqi mother having just lost her son.
dawn woke to find itself dragging a fear stricken man
between this marble floor and the next
grief piled upon weary grief
offering only a sleepless night on which to stand
knuckles reddened from banging on locked gates
voice hoarse from screaming at unrelenting guards
Martha and John the legs on which to stand
with hearts torn open by a common mind
that demands Barabbas
the very shadow of the revolution
Son of the Father
whose sanitized flesh sates our desire to hold Jesus against our skin
whose life keeps light at bay
Barabbas
an exchange of a beloved cow for three tiny beans
for a moment of clarity
of comprehensibility
a blink of crazy hope
and millennia of unfolding
