Bypassing Archangels / Joshua Alan Sturgill
I close the book
because the first chapter
fails to command my attention.
What am I looking for
in every story, in every overture?
Some teacher to tell me
the Wounds of Christ are both
immediate and symbolic.
To hear His Hands
are affixed — left to earth,
right to heaven.
To see His Side violently
rent by Adam’s birth.
Some symphony to answer
did His Feet first bleed
in the Garden, wading through
a sudden flood of thorns?
An illustration
of Christ the cliff diver, the parachutist,
leaping from beyond Being
into non-being:
diminished,
He plummets
through every last layer
of Reality, bypassing Archangels,
refounding Cosmology, seeking the lost sheep.
I want to watch Him thus wounded,
composing the parables
during His long descent — those immediate,
symbolic stories He will deploy
to coax Adam
out of death
All poetry and supplementary material: copyright 2025 by Joshua Alan Sturgill. All rights reserved.
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