HALLELUJAH
Jesus healed somebody in her church, she said.
The woman had been
wheel-chaired since forever
and a group of friends
surrounded her
and prayed real hard.
They raised their hands
the way I’ve seen
on TV, waving them
east to west like
they were trying
to get a better signal.
Their eyes closed,
looking like any minute
Jesus himself
would come down
on a bolt of lightning.
The lady in the wheelchair smiled, raised her hands, too.
After they hollered
and yelled Praise God
several times, the cripple
stood up. Her friends
whooped and shouted
and danced. She’s healed,
one of them shouted.
But when the lady
sat back down in her
chair her friends acted
like it was no big deal
that she still could
not walk. I asked my
devout friend about that.
She said it was the will
of Jesus, and nobody knows
his plan. I said
it sounds like a lot of crap, and she unfriended me.
—from Rattle #86, Winter 2024
__________
Lenny DellaRocca: “This poem is an Epoem, a form I’ve invented. If you’re interested to know what an Epoem is go to soflopojo.com and click the Witchery link. Witchery is a poetry journal embedded there. ‘Hallelujah’ came about after talking with a coworker who told me Jesus healed someone at her church. The poem is also informed by when I was an usher at a theater that brought in an evangelist a few times a year. The pastor ‘healed’ many folks there, but none of those in wheelchairs sitting right in front of the stage. He was a fraud.”
