How It Went by Patrick T. Reardon

It was Amen. Finger in the
dish. Bread, broken. Cup,
given. Blood, flesh.

The wind was not empty. The angel knew the score.

The kiss, the sword, the healing in torch
shadows.

Testimony. The right hand and the torn robe.
Deny, deny, deny — the rooster.
Crucify.

Silver planted in the Field of Blood.
Tree grown in the Skull Place.

They feared a riot. She feared a dream.
He couldn’t see the point so he put his hands in the dish.

Eloi, eloi, lama sabachthani.

Was that
the still
small itch
of a sound
that Elijah
heard as
I let go?

Patrick T. Reardon, a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, has authored ten books, including the poetry collection Darkness on the Face of the Deep (Kelsay). Forthcoming in 2022 are his memoir in prose poems Puddin’: The Autobiography of a Baby (Third World) and his chapbook The Lost Tribes (Gray Book).