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The Gospel Writers Meet, an Excerpt

The following poem appeared in the Fall 2006 edition of Rock and Sling. And is ©2006 Andrew Kooman and cannot be printed or distributed in any form without permission from the author.

SAINT JOHN DISCUSSES THE EIGHTH CHAPTER

he sure had a one-two punch

could knock the air
right out of you

and before you knew it
you were on the ground

those were my favorite
words he spoke on earth

before Abraham was, I am

he must have waited
to say them

his whole life

whispered them under his breath
at night

laughing
before sleep

his delivery
just right

or else
when those vipers
name dropped
all the way back to Abraham

suspicious of
demons

using every foul word
in their arsenal:

Samaritan,
bastard,
cunt

he could have vaporized
their bodies

breathed fire from his
mouth

split their heads
like melons


but no

he was compassionate,
restrained

the blasphemous heard
blasphemy

the thirsty
water

and those who walked with
him, the quiet voice of heaven

words with all the power
of eternity
from the look
of things

fell out of his mouth
to the ground,
empty

all creation waited
for him to say it

and they picked up stones