To Be Absolute Requires Us Also to Be Complete
by Jeff MockThe church takes in all who
Agree that it is a church.
The priest blesses all who
Admit to sin and claim to repent.
The wine is a metaphor, as is
The word, which is also a trick,
A bit of magic. We agree
The sleeve is useful, and the hat
Where the dove waits. Every
Thing waits within what
Contains it. If we believe, we must
Believe that the cross existed
As itself, waiting, within the tree.
Jeff Mock is the author of Ruthless (Three Candles Press, 2010). His poems appear in TheAtlantic Monthly, The Georgia Review, The Iowa Review, New England Review, The North American Review, Shenandoah, The Sewanee Review, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. He teaches in the MFA program at Southern Connecticut State University and lives in New Haven, Connecticut, with his wife, Margot Schilpp, and their daughters, Paula and Leah.
