Where Death Is Not an Is—Katie Manning

Where Death Is Not an Is

by Katie Manning
after Brian Henry

I met Jesus the next day
at the Life Cafe. "Call me
J now," he said. "People
lock me up when I say

I am God." He pulled
back his sleeves to show
the marks on his arms
from recent shots. I asked

what I could do. "Just lie
low," he said between
bites of falafel. "Dead
is the way the world wants

us. People hate to feel
alive." We ate in silence
for a while. Then I asked,
"What happens to us?"

He wiped his young hands
and stood to leave. "We are
finished," and kissed my cheek.
I put my hand on his arm

and told him the scars would be
beautiful when they healed.

---

This poem is from The Gospel of the Bleeding Woman (Wipf & Stock, 2013). It was first published in Fickle Muses.

Katie Manning is the founding editor of Whale Road Review and a professor of writing at Point Loma Nazarene University. Winner of the Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award for Tasty Other, she's the author of eight poetry collections, most recently Hereverent (Agape Editions, 2023) and How to Play (Louisiana Literature Press, 2022). Her writing has been featured on Poetry Unbound, Tangle News, Verse Daily, and many other venues. Find her online at katiemanningpoet.com.