A poem a day in April from Rutgers English PhD students and friends.

Sunday, April 13, 2014

Two-Minute Poem: Palm Sunday

It's the kind of holiday where you're only Catholic on vacation
like you're alone in Barcelona and it's Palm Sunday, why not
go to church, carry around some foliage. Which is the holiday
with the exploding cart? Or you're in San Francisco & it's
Ash Wednesday and you don't have anywhere to go
so slip inside a church. Or sometimes you're in Brooklyn
where you live, but it's a fancy part, and your feet hurt,
and the street is closed off with fronds and choirboys
swinging censers and chanting and babies holding
special woven things, and some nice lady gives you a palm
and you ride off joyously back into Jerusalem

2 comments:

  1. Churches are the refuges of travelers! This was my favorite Sunday in church as a kid (curious now why that was? in hindsight, it was probably the foliage!)

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  2. Yes! I was once in Rome on Palm Sunday and got to see the amazing service in St. Peter's square (or is it a circle??) and the Pope speak (JP II). Even a pagan can appreciate some good old-fashioned pageantry.

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