Sunday, December 27, 2015

Poem - The Goings-on in Gethsemane


Lackadaisical, adjective: lacking enthusiasm and determination; carelessly lazy.

Makeshift, adjective: serving as a temporary substitute; sufficient for the time being; noun: a temporary substitute or device.

Nude, adjective: wearing no clothes; naked; depicting or performed by naked people; (especially of hosiery) flesh-colored; noun: a naked human figure, typically as the subject of a painting, sculpture, or photograph; flesh color.


The Goings-on In Gethsemane
O. Kris Widmer

December 27, 2015
Holy Bible:  Gospel of St. Mark 14:51,52

Prompted by Three Word Wednesday Week 456 Writing Prompt
Three Required Words:  Lackadaisical, Makeshift, Nude
Three Other Words, Chosen from the given definitions:  determination, substitute, naked


To no avail,
he already tried
a ancient mind trick
gazing into his captors eyes
while saying -
“these are not the disciples
you are looking for.”[1]

Now, still detained
by the youngest but burliest
of the mob’s members
who eyed him with leer-filled looks,
fear seized the controls
of his mind[2]
with a determination
to cause another panic attack,
just like the incapacitating ones
he’d had before.

Would this be like Sodom (Genesis 19:5)
or Gibeah (Judges 19:22) all over again?
(He knew ALL the Scripture stories!)
He clenched his sphincter at the thought.

There is nothing between
his flesh and theirs,
his tight end and their stiff beginnings,
but his bed’s linens,
cast about his nakedness
a makeshift toga,
a sorry, substitute tunic,
now a fashion faux pas
on display at the Christ’s
all-night prayer service
gone horribly wrong.

miraculously,
reason took over, noting that
the lackadaisical trooper twins
lacked ropes or chains.
“Why, they only hold me by
this twin-sized top-sheet!”

So…our dear detainee
in a flash
makes a quick turn,
a twisting to the right
both arms raised!

Sweet Freedom!

Free of them.
Free of covers.
Free of fear.

He flees - flexing
and flaccid -
gone from the garden
and the Gospels,
nude into the night.

Nothing new is known.





[1] Reference to the famous force-using Star Wars line from Obiwan Kinobi.  “These are not the droids you are looking for.”
[2] Reference to the personification of emotions in the movie “Inside Out”

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