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Reading the Bible Backwards

by Robert Priest


Reading the bible backwards
Christ Jesus pops his nails
And comes down
To give the karma back to the people
Bearing the cross downhill
He shrugs off the scourging
Of his torturers
He escapes unscathed
From his backwards trial
Returned by Rome
To the Judas kiss

Reading the bible backwards
Christ Jesus says
Cursed are the meek
For the rich shall inherit the earth
He says turn the other cheek
Or I’ll turn it for you
The moneychangers
Throw backwards Jesus
Out of the temple
And he wanders around
Giving people leprosy
And causing blindness
Reading the bible backwards
Christ Jesus turns the adulteress
Over to her judges
He puts the resurrected
Back to death
But they rise again
Like bread

After that he leaves
The living living
And the dying dying
He moonwalks rapidly
Out of history
Back to Mary’s arms
In reverse birth
He shrinks
Through her womb
Rewound
To the infertile egg
And beyond

For a while there is a star
That hovers
Then that too is gone