Ampersand. D. S. Martin

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      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

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