Step Out of Stone
We cannot live an afterlife in lieu;
the next is predicated on the last,
dependent on the lessons: many, few.
Not satisfied rewriting teachings, you
absolve him of his race, Semitic cast.
Yes, Yeshua ben Yosef was a Jew.
Depict him as Caucasian, and to woo
those acts he railed against (wage war? Aghast).
Step out of stone, of darker ageing hue.
No ‘Jew’ as the Messiah, yet you view
their lineage as sacred scriptured past.
Yes, Yeshua ben Josef was a Jew.
His sexuality’s been taken, too,
and Maryam declassed, a whore (out)cast.*
Such carnal inadmission tends to skew.
Staunch Theocratic hegemony’s due
its Karmic fate: no Heaven’s Gate, at last.
We cannot live an afterlife in lieu -
it rests upon the lessons: many, few.
✩
*Pope Gregory the Great‘s homily on Luke’s gospel dated 14 September 591 first suggested that Mary Magdalene (Maryam/Miriam) was a prostitute: “She whom Luke calls the sinful woman, whom John calls Mary, we believe to be the Mary from whom seven devils were ejected according to Mark. And what did these seven devils signify, if not all the vices? … It is clear, brothers, that the woman previously used the unguent to perfume her flesh in forbidden acts.”(homily XXXIII).
(Source: Wikipedia). Sources generally: several over many years (none including Dan Brown), and just the tip of a rather large iceberg. It was pretty difficult packing even this much into nineteen lines. I feel a free verse rewrite coming on.
ha there are many a church that would take offense at your words sir…we twist theology and religeosity to meet our terms…to control people…sadly…yes he def does not look like the white guy on all the stain glass…but then how could we then get away with burning crossed in the yards of other races you know…smiles….ok i dont burn crosses but you get what i mean…nice write man
Wow. You packed that better than I do a dishwasher, and I pack a pretty mean dishwasher (because I’m to lazy to wash by hand). I believe there are many who forget him Jewish. I didn’t realize it until late teens. That made it all the more fascinating for me, but I suspect most “whitewash” their minds as you suggest. I love the ending too, coming full-circle.
Excellent, just excellent. Research applied to poetry typically makes for a deeper write, and wow, you just nailed it with this one. The craft and precision of word chose and placement locale is seen, can’t wait for the extended free verse- although i’m not the church-going sort I feel a deep bond with God, as I know him, and I always appreciate a good poem either using religion as a theme or as a backdrop, heck even referenced, and if the envelope in such regards are pushed a little- well, I don’t know, but I just find it makes for a stronger reading, one you almost need to return to again later just my take- just a fantastic piece. Thanks
I enjoyed this very much. Not a word wasted.
Not a thought or phrase without meaning.
Thank you very much for the excellent write.
Peace,
Siggi in Downeast Maine
Excellence.
Excellent write Luke.
Religion scares me and certainly was never a comfort. It is true that man twists the ?truth/scripture of whichever Holy Book he professess to follow to suit his own needs/deeds.
So much evil done in the name of God.
Anna :o]
Representation. A powerful tool to control and mislead. This is a finely crafted indictment and ‘Step out of stone’… the centre of the piece.
Repetition and the insistence of the meter ensure the message is felt and heard. Well said, Luke.
Well put, Luke. This villanelle hybrid is the perfect vehicle for such a piece. Saying just enough and highlighting the crux of your idea. Very nicely done.
yes, I can feel it was tough to pack so much into such a structured form. I’d like to see how this reads in free verse as well.
Thanks all, much appreciate your visits and the time you take to read and comment.
@brian Churches may take offence, but the majority of the content is actual fact, and the rest my own view on the topic/spirituality generally. Making Mary Magdelene a prostitute to whom Christ said, “noli me tangere” (touch me not) upon resurrection is sexist, propagandist and pathologically repressed. Before that she was lauded as a fully canonised Saint. And to make Jesus look more and more Caucasian also absurd. Little uncomfortable perhaps to our WASP friends that he was Jewish, a son of the Middle-East. etc etc I’m starting to rant… I know you know this and probably agree, though plenty would argue against the claim that the Catholics wrote Heaven and Hell into the Bible to keep the people in fear and under their thumb. Many esoteric Christian groups believe in reincarnation, as Christ did, supposedly. It would be worth reading the Essene Gospel; they have been around since the time of Christ and if any scripture is closest to Truth, surely that is?
I thankfully don’t have enough ego to think I can absolve anyone of anything, but I find those who think they can entertaining. Unsparing assessments are sometimes appropriate, like in this. Very good writing. ~Mary
@MaryD Entertaining, unless they’re killing people… thanks Mary
Hi Luke–this is really quite fascinating. I’m trying to understand if it’s a specific form–obviously I see the tercets and the repetition, but not a form I identify. (Not that it matters–only that the repetition works wonderfully.) Very clever, but you do not sacrifice the intensity to cleverness. k.
@Manicddaily Thank you, MDD… it started life as a villanelle but that wasn’t quite working (too much repetition of bits that wouldn’t stand it)… so I removed some and put the final line out on its own. I guess you could call it a bastardised/modern villanelle, but I’ll just say it’s in rhyming tercets of iambic pentameter. No comment on the assertions the poem makes?
Hi Luke–I never think to subscribe to comments so didn’t see–well, for me the strongest line is the first, which I prefer to take more as a general, and very true, life lesson about living the current life. I like very much that you’ve used Jesus’ traditional or Semitic name. I am not as taken aback ( I guess) by the assertion about Jesus as Jew or the sexuality aspects. You know living in the US and NYC, one gets very steeped in the religious divides and I’ve had close friends and relatives very tangled in these issues. Somehow that’s made them feel much simpler to me, and my thinking tends to vaguely follow your line of thought but with far less heat. This may be why I am more interested in your expression here, the flow. Sorry if I’m not very clear– typing on iPad without a keyboard I often use. K
Hi Luke–to be a little clearer (on real computer and thinking a bit more)–the hypocrisy of church hegemony certainly gets my blood flowing, and its selective view of history–but the most involved biblical historian I personally know if my brother who’s an evangelical Christian. (I’m not.) As a result, perhaps I find that discussions of this type of history seem sometimes very arbitrary to me– because often they seem to be an argument as to whether there is validity to a faith or not based on historical issues, and I tend to think that the specifics of one’s belief have more to do with one’s own life history (rather than any kind of world history). I think at the end of the day people have faith or not, and certain prejudices or not–and the historical facts that find them (or that they glom on to) tend to be the ones that support the positions that they have already innately taken.
Certainly they are interesting questions. But I innately unphilosophical. (Ha.) @Manicddaily