The body is not an apology. Let it not be forget-me-not fixed to mattress when night threatens to leave the room empty as the belly of a crow.
The body is not an apology. Do not present it as a dissembled rifle when he has yet to prove himself more than common intruder.
The body is not an apology. Let it not be common as oil, ash, or toil. Let it not be small as gravel stains or teeth. Let it not be mountain when it is sand, let it not be ocean when it is grass.
Let it not be shakened, flattened, or raised in contrition.
The body is not an apology. Do not give the body as communion, confession. Do not ask it to be pardoned as criminal. The body is not a crime; is not a gun; is not a lost set of keys or wrong number dialed. It is not the orange burst of blood to shame white dresses.
The body is not an apology. It is not the unintended granule of bone beneath willed body. It's not kill, it's not unkempt car, it is not a forgotten appointment.
Do not speak it vulgar, the body is not soiled, it is not filth to be forgiven, the body is not an apology.
It is not a father's backhand; it's not mother dinner late again. Wrecked jaw howl, it is not the drunken sorcery of contorting steel around tree. The body is not calamity, the body is not a math test, the body is not the wrong answer, the body is not a failed class.
You are not failing. The body is not an apology.
The body is not a crime, it is not a gun. The body is not a crime. It is not sentence to be served. Is not prison, is not pavement, is not prayer.
The body is not an apology. Do not offer the body as gift, only receive it as such. The body is not to be prayed for; it is to be prayed to.
So, for the evermore tortile tenth grade nose, Hallelujah. For the shower song throat that crackles like a grandfather's victrola, Hallelujah. For the spine that never healed. For the lambent heart that didn't either, Hallelujah. For the sloping pulp of back, hip, belly, Hosanna.
Errant hairs that rove the face like a pack of ? wolves. Hosanna, for the parts we have endeavored to excise. Blessed be the cancer, the palsy, the womb that opens like a trapdoor. Praise the body in its black jack magic, even in this. For the razor wire mouth. For the sweet God ribbon within it. Praise for the mistake that never was. Praise. For the bend, twist, fall, and rise again. Fall and rise again.
For the raising like an obstinate Christ. Praise the body that bends like a baptismal bowl. For those who will worship at the lip of this sanctuary. Praise the body for body is not an apology. The body is Deity. The body is God. The body is God; the only righteous love that will never need repent.
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