The Outsider's Graveyard.
After Matthew 27:3 and 8. Acts 1:18-20. A Re-imagining
The Outsider's Graveyard. For a time there was a leper who camped in the Outsider's Graveyard. She took it upon herself to tend the plots, scratching names on gathered rocks. When the moon moved her pain she would wander the lanes chanting “unclean” like a blessing. Softly singing of what she'd seen. The ghost of Jesus Sitting with Judas. Weeping into each other's embrace. Each confessing to the other. Each apologising to the other. Fading indigo light. Until Judas released in peaceful sleep Sinking into clay. Jesus saw her with care. Thanking her by name he kissed her ragged shawl and faded into mist.
Re-imagining and Re-membering
One of the things I enjoy about writing poetry is the licence it gives to explore history, to re-imagine well worn stories from a completely new space.
The bible is a vast landscape for mining these stories that have been historically foreclosed; origins established; meanings itemised and purpose embedded .
Don’t get me wrong , it is a sacred text, but it is so much more interesting than just that.
The bible is full of profound and powerful stories that have much to give us.
However, I am not saying anything new to suggest that the bible was written and translated through multiple languages by men, in a religiopolitical context with a particular purpose, to a particular audience.
I realise that to say much of the bible is lost in translation is stating the bleeding obvious, or what aussie kids of my day would respond with Derrrr..
To re-imagine a story is to honour it, to take it seriously, to inhabit its dimensions and be inhabited by its pain, rage and joy.
To explore a narrative with respect is to be curious as a child. Flip it over to see what’s underneath, poke it, chew on it.
To open up a narrative is a practice of sacred re-membering.
Michael White (1948-2008), Australian social worker and founder of Narrative Therapy, spoke of the dis-memmbering of our stories, our inner and outer communities. Narrative therapy is a way of bringing the pieces back together in an empowered reimaging of our identity in the face of violence, deprivation, exclusion, illness and control.
This poem is one small offering to a dis-membered world.
