the seventh kiss (zoopoetics X theopoetics rev.)

“when Jesus rose early on the first day
he appeared first to Mary Magdalena
out of whom he had cast seven devils.” mark 16-9

i wept
at all three tombs for mary magdalena
jerusalem
constantinople
aix-le-provence
wept like a lost child
tradition records that
magdalena
with martha and lazarus
were set adrift by other-believers
in a small boat
without oars or sails
so their heads pop up everywhere
but they may still be out there
tracing the scent of spikenard
waiting for us to abandon our life-boats
listen
spirit murmurs among vernacular winds
babies babble angel-speak and
the fresh songs of the dying
are sung into other worlds

of the bodies membrum
martha tidies the boat
lazarus pumps the bilge
Magdalena stands night-watch on the bow
remembering
she faces the waves
tempted to close her eyes and
journey home on foot

when swells break over the bow
her tears greet their briny fingers
warm seas embrace her body
cosset her breasts
wind presses hard between
her shearing thighs

magdalena
recalls every kiss written in the gospel
five were kisses of betrayal
one kiss was pure devotion
but of the seventh kiss
nothing was written
(for every mary
who made love with god
and lived,
and for Uzzah
who was killed for much less).

obliged, daniel imburgia