the reason for the season in poetry

1.

the reason the rich folk love
the idea of Jesus so much is
His magic did all of the work
they don’t want to do, it’s too
resource-intensive, it’s so very
beneath their entitled notice

all that healing and feeding
they refuse to pay a dime of
Jesus accomplished without
the rich needing to sacrifice
they’ll sacrifice nothing for us
they’ll sacrifice nothing but us
all up on the crosses of poverty

rich folk don’t mind, of course
the idea of poor folks breathing
just as long as their sustenance
appears out of thin air with no
loss to their isolating comforts

as long as they don’t have to give
anything up for us, they don’t mind
us living, as long as they don’t have
to do something crazy like paying
their taxes or giving a damn

as long as those rich folks don’t
have to care about us themselves
let alone give up some luxury
to make our humanity whole

when you can pretend magic
is supposed to do all the work
as long as Jesus does all the work
not having to lift a single finger
then sure, let them have life

when you can pretend that
humanity isn’t your business
that there are spooky ghosts
up in the clouds, so let them
handle it, then they are okay
with poor folk suffering less
when compassion or mercy or
empathy is required, however
when there’s skin off their backs
when it’s one new yacht this quarter
instead of two and how could they live
with only one new yacht for Christmas
that’s barbarism, don’t you know
that’s socialism, that’s anarchy

they’re not going to give up a
yacht just to help poor people
let those sky monsters do it
let those fairy tales do it
let Jesus Christ do what
Jesus would do

that’s the reason those rich folks love
Jesus so much not His absolution of sin
rather in absolution of their responsibility
to the rest of this damned human race

oh, they love Jesus so much
or at least that idea of Jesus
magic replacing their duties
to the rest of their species
to us poor folk down here

2.

the reason I myself feel so terrible
for Jesus Christ has vanishing little
to do with that whole crucifix thing
of course, I am certain it hurt like hell
but that’s one day of excruciating pain

every day there are thousands of soldiers dying
going through that kind of God-awful suffering
millions of mothers giving birth to their children
going through that kind of God-awful suffering

now, I’ve never been crucified myself
let alone been a soldier or mother but
though I’m certain all three are awful
in their own ways, that’s just one day
one terrible day to try and just endure

no, I really feel awful for Jesus because
that guy had such an amazing philosophy
that guy was so forward-thinking, so humane
that guy put His life into trying to help people
learn to care for each other on Earth but
over the last two hundred decades or so
all that fine reason and depth of loving
they got lost in the gleam of the magic

they got lost in the magic attached
just to sell those ideas to the rubes

and I mean, certainly it worked
the marketing worked, didn’t it
Peter the rock of the church, he
said that if you want to franchise
you need an extraordinary sales pitch
all that heaven stuff, forgiveness stuff
the wish-granters in beards up the clouds
really spread the business around, didn’t it?

nonetheless pretty soon all that magic bullshit
meant to just carry those great ideas forward
the little plastic prize inside your cereal box
that slight-of-hand subsumed the real idea
that’s about all anyone hears of it now
they only cared about the magic
they only care about the magic

that magic took over the world
but not the good intentions, not
our responsibility to each other
only the shiny empty promises
of His magic fixing it all so that
the rich folk don’t have to do it

that’s the real reason I feel so
Goddamned awful for Jesus
a crucifixion is one bad day
one really terrible afternoon

but all of your hopes and dreams
warped into the heartless wreckage
of this hollowed-out modern age
I can’t see how even a god could
handle that flavour of heartbreak
the spoonful of sugar, yeah sure
it makes that medicine go down
for a while like the woman said
but human beings are wily sorts
but human beings are decadent
eventually they will figure out
it’s the sugar they really enjoy

we figure how to exorcise the
medicine entirely and just eat
that sweet meaningless candy
gorge on mere empty calories
that’s what happened with us

Jesus is all just sugar now
His thought and His love
lost within the sales pitch
of easy fairy-tale magics

oh, Jesus Christ, I want to apologize
I am so very sorry I can only imagine
that cuts so very much deeper than a
handful of iron some Friday afternoon

3.

oh, heavens oh my heavens
now we are all out of bread
we are all out of our medicine
the rich folks just shrug from
their high towers of reticence

“why don’t you ask Jesus?”
“He can fix you with magic”
“we owe you no recompense”
“we owe no dollars nor sense”
“own you all to eternity hence”

oh, heavens my heavens this
isn’t how it should’ve been
oh, sweet Jesus, sweet Lord
there’s so very much more
the rich folks could afford
without that Jesus juice
as their all-holy excuse

Last updated August 30, 2020