younger shyer than that son of thunder
who shared your name? Not one to impress
or be given fame or the one who came
later to the band? Were you the same James
whose father was Alphaeus the one whose mother
was a second Mary beneath the cross
the second mentioned among the women
at the tomb? Would you confess
to taking the blame to feeling the worst
to seeing yourself whenever he would bless
the least in the kingdom? Step up James
claim your place Remember he said
the last shall be first
VII — Simon the Zealot
When I was a child in my father’s home
before I was presented at the temple
in the days when Joazar the priest
would have sold us all for peace
Judas the Galilean prevented
such subjection to the hated ways of Rome
Some say he was a brigand when he raided
a palace & armoury & carried away the gold
After his death his insurrection faded
At first I found another to follow from Galilee
for I was bold to smother the Gentile breath
we breathe He told us he came to bring a sword
between brothers but it became a spiritual flame
His authority out-burned the Pharisees
for by his own name he cast out demons
I took on a new zeal far more real
with true connection to Israel’s consolation
For this cause I’d even be sawn in two
VIII — The Judas Tree
Cercis Siliquastrum
From within the alabaster skull of a man
better off unborn
throbs the pressure of regret
The hand that dipped into the bags
that dipped bread in the dish
that reached for bloody stars
now scatters to the ground a silver constellation
for the burial of aliens
& strangers
Too late No return Too late
The garden’s salty kiss of blood
stains his lips ripe
like Zechariah’s prophesy
Irretrievable
as the spikenard of devotion He grasps
for consolation in the word friend
Bloody blossoms hang
from the cursed Judas Tree
IX — Jude
How horrid to live with a tainted name
to be so easily confused with one who sold your Lord
Who could blame you Jude
for going by Thaddaeus afterward?
I’m with you too in wondering why
Christ wouldn’t show himself to the world
Is this why they say you went to Syria
to Libya to Armenia to show him yourself?
O patron saint of lost causes
under either of your names
when the iconographers paint you
they show your Pentecostal flames
O Courageous Heart he said he’d show
himself to those who love him hiding
behind parables siding with the dogs
beneath the children’s table & so
you sought to spread that love
as much as you were able
X — Thomas Didymus
When Mary Magdalene said she’d seen
the Lord it was strangely disappointing
One of the worst women saved from the street
to have been first I knew it must be true
that’s just what he would do but then
when I was the only one to fight fear
& search for myself the others lagging behind
it was like the soldier’s spear went right through
me too when I returned to hear
the others bragging (that was the worst)
that I was the only one not to have been there
not to have seen where his hands were pierced
I went into denial I won’t believe I said
Anything less than my fingers in his wounds
won’t be enough My words sounded odd
to my ears A week later I was among
them when he appeared & called my bluff
My Lord & my God Conviction rolled off my tongue
XI — Simon Peter
After
