jesus seen once in Ohio
By Alahna Vallone
“he is said to burn bright, sweat-slicked and smiling.”
there, ablaze in the midwestern sun
he is said to burn bright, sweat-slicked and smiling.
and he will take mothers from
daughters and sons. she will be saved.
a girl said to her mother that jesus was seen on a screen
in Ohio. where? where? tall in the corn fields.
show me. show me. she cannot see
through the glass, he came
for Ohio, in all its vast nothingness.
what greater being does not yearn
for late night department store trips
with only coins, rattling in your pockets?
he wanders earth like we peruse
the dollar section, the aisles
cold, white and clean, like hospitals.
the store will be closing in 10 minutes.
please make your way to the front.
my mother shakes me.
please bow down to him, though your knees
are not made to bend. please
don’t leave me
alone with your father.
the one in heaven. the one at a home of her dreams.
i cracked open her leather-bound bible
to cite my sources mla style. dust
expands like smoke. i cough all the same.
put it on my bedside table when you're done.
i leave it on the cold tile outside her door
because i hear her muffled sobs. because i do not know jesus
and i’ve never been to Ohio, but sorrow
i have seen. sorrow. i have seen sorrow in the mirror,
in my mother’s eyes, in losing faith in all fathers,
in the eyes of a little girl who found out
about saint nicholas under an empty tree, who
has fallen to her knees so many times, for so many
brothers and fathers, mouth agape.
always, she has risen
starving for a miracle.
jesus is just another fantasy.
no man is coming back to save us.
About the Writer...
Alahna Vallone is an artist in her senior year of Creative Writing at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida. She focuses on writing confessional poetry and lyrical fiction. She’s an alumnus of Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference and is the current Managing Editor of Élan Literary Magazine. Her work often discusses womanhood, regret, and identity. She has been recognized by Scholastic Art and Writing and First Coast Young Voices.
About the Artist...
Mai Tran is a senior at Savannah Arts Academy majoring in visual arts. She has three dogs and a twin sister. Their favorite medium is working on scratch board.