Apropos The Dark Night of the Soul

Perhaps it is, John, that spirit, soul,
Sense it as you’re wont to—darkens
At being creature. The word uttered
Shot from the mind of God, which is
God, now stands printed on the not
God and discerns its edition as anti-
God, the instead of God, in the geni-
tive sensing itself in the dative
Till the bitter aloes upon the breast
Sap the salivary glands and it
(soul, spirit, sense, self, less God)
Perceives the accusative. The milk
Much less the manna, still less
The fish’s heart, don’t show
As specks in the shaft of dark
Light scanning the marks, but
Grow dim to God’s eye—divine
Aphasia loses sight and sense
But not site of the slip in
God’s tongue, the logos God
Changed God’s mind about too
Late. Jesus, John, isn’t enough
To parse your poem’s agon.
You, John, darken God, not
Otherwise. You are nominative
And tell God’s taking back the verb.

Thomas Farrington is the Artistic Director of The Peripatetic Poet: Literature in Performance, an artists’ collaborative based in New York City. His published work includes Amoretti: Sonnets, The Wooden Whistle: Poems for Actors, as well as numerous poems that have appeared in a variety of publications. He is Pastoral Partner for Theological Inquiry at the Park Avenue Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in New York City.