Alan Humm

St. Paul

Paul’s fierce love:
God’s or his?
Malformed,
bare-chested,
voice snagged in the thicket
of his words,
he makes us long for what he says he sees.
Our dead resist him; fail to rise.
But the skies are Paul’s.
The mountains all bear witness
to the different ways
that they could disappear.
He tells us to knock and knock
until we have gained entry
to a world so plain
it hurts the eyes.
Look at him weave:
his hands, dismissive and attentive,
tug the hemp until it nearly breaks.
In the same way
he stitches us to God.

Alan Humm is the editor of One Hand Clapping magazine and has just finished his first collection: A Brief and Biased History of Love.