As He Now Lets Fall
~ Psalm 24:7 (for my son, post-top surgery)
His opened shirt, the proud parade of skin
And the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein
His mound-less chest—he twists one button then another
For he hath founded it upon the seas
Working each small stitched lock, each pearly key
Established it upon the waters
His kingdom unveiled and he the sole ruler
Who may ascend the hill
Of castle with the drawbridge down
Who shall stand in his holy place?
The proud parade of skin, his boundless chest
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart
All the flora in their stamen glory—a perfect fire
Shall receive the blessing
Through window, turret, banquet hall, boudoir
Lift up your heads, O ye gates
All colors square the circle, circling the square
Strong and mighty
And steady atop his throne
This is the generation
Gold in every corner, plank, every choiring facet—
Mighty in battle
Hair to shoulders, his voice yet deepens
That seek him
With nails
Seek thy face
Color of blackberries
Lift up your heads
Crushed and bled
O ye gates
His fingers skip his torso length
Who is this King of glory?
Smooth as moon, the glint of it—
This King of glory
Of desert midnight, a landscape of light, he thinks—
And be ye lift up
Of royal optics, the beauty of—
Even lift them up
Ancient spaces
Ye everlasting doors
That said his name: He—Him—His
The King of glory shall come in
A call that entered—Lord:
Glory... Long before he heard it
Michelle Bitting (she/her) was short-listed for the 2020 Montreal International Poetry Prize, won the 2018 Fischer Poetry Prize, Quarter After Eight’s 2018 Robert J. DeMott Short Prose Contest, and a fourth collection of poetry, Broken Kingdom won the 2018 Catamaran Prize and was named to Kirkus Reviews’ Best of 2018. In 2021, her manuscript Nightmares & Miracles won the Wilder Prize and will be published by Two Sylvias Press in 2022. She is a Lecturer in Poetry and Creative Writing at Loyola Marymount U.