NaPoWriMo 2023 — Day 7: “Advanced Testing”

7. Advanced Testing

“On the shelf of belief the ironed faiths are folded and warmed for putting on when night and winter come. Remove one belief and all topple and crease.”
— “Scented Gardens for the Blind”, Janet Frame

mislabeled miracles
filled the file, defying
possible explanations,
but mainland outliers
understood the gospel
of what their eyes saw

a reborn man came,
& his voice stained
the wooden walls
with encouragement;
his mumbling was balm,
& a name on his tongue
(especially if it was yours)
was an angelic intonation

closed ears heard, minds
bent toward belief, & those
with cynical outlooks
shunned the sinister
thread that could lie beneath
in favor of the paralyzed
hope walking as if on water
with the beckoning of his hand

come to the dancers’ side, release
inhibitions & let go, the choir
sang & heaven help those who gave in
because the death of familiarity
is a grief like no other, the murder
of a long held tradition
transforms everything

the bloodstream began
its yearly attack & wellness
drifted away with no benediction;
there is a cure somewhere
but no one’s loud enough
when they cry out for it

the strange angel promised
eternity in agony but the ability
for all dreams & colorful
exaggerations to be made real,
& it was worth the surrender
despite the worsening ill

& the folder grew bigger,
the questions consumed
their way through the body,
wrecked every nerve, drained
every functioning system,
but oh how the chosen who suffered
were redeemed!

but as usual,
the disease, the recovery,
the deceiver himself,
were not at all what they seemed —
& the shell is a transformed
anomaly, the corpse has been burned
alive, the faithful have
all departed, the physician
shakes his head,
& the penitent patient
is silent

Photo by Anete Lusina