His identify adopted
her round all over the place,
slipping out of well-meaning mouths,
tumbling forth from acquainted faces, embarrassing associates
who knew higher however made extra of a behavior of forgetting than
remembering she wished nothing
to do with Him, however right here He was as her aunt
handed the stuffing at Thanksgiving, every household vacation
reminding her He was the firstborn, her household’s favourite, Jesus
He was the older sibling who would by no means let her
neglect Him, neglect them:
her childhood crush
her high-school trainer
her church’s priest who believed her
to be a part, not a reputation, extra selection than reality
jury be damned, the courtroom ordained
a authorized change however they may not make
Him be her, for she was nonetheless He
perpetually for her enemies
provisionally on the DMV
parenthetically for the politicians who apologetically
pleaded to the undecided voters in our divided county
who believed in Him, might agree on Him, might
extra simply conceive of He and Him and His
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, my God He
was a given, was given, was God’s-given
how might He be given a lot and need to turn into
her, a requirement, an ask, a proof
an aberration, a lesson
for her mom, a problem
for her father, a pardon?
for her employer, an oh!
for her grandmother
and for her grandfather, proper subsequent to her?
he wished her gone
wished to slash the s proper out of she
seize her, shake her till she forgot her ending
coughed up the center, the aunt’s stuffing
dropped the r and left He, Him who was there at first
