Finding Redemption in Vinje , Iowa
Only
when it is Easter in this stone church on the hill
do
they proclaim that sins are forgiven and I no longer
mourn
at 4 a.m. amidst the bookshelves that tell me
the
universe began elsewhere in a big bang
that
foretold my future. Not this place that foretold my past.
Jesus
loves you
I
visit my mother's parents across the road
(a
road named for where you are going, east or west)
in
this cemetery carved from a homestead I once knew
where
I wait for a Ford pickup half mile up the paved road
to
speed by me, eyeballing my Norwegian flesh for roots.
You're
not from around here
That
generation sleeps here that built this altar and waits
like
Moses for all their sons and daughters to join them.
Someone
should tell them, Move on from here!
Hand
me that acolyte's rook and let me extinguish the flame
at
the end of our communion where we arise to share
bread
and eggs at sunrise like surrogate families bound
by
gravel and blizzards and coffee.
Your sins are forgiven. Go in peace.
Robin Throne is an