Praise Him...in living color!!!

THE REDHEAD TWO PEWS UP

 

Across the aisle, two pews up

stands an attractive, middle-aged woman

with springy mahogany curls

corkscrewing out in various directions

 

She turns her head

Her lipstick looms lush, full

and passionately crimson

 

With exuberance, she sings

"Shout to The Lord!"

along with the congregation

following the words projected

on a white overhead screen

 

The redhead sits

and prepares to hear the message

She casually unzips

her black leather covered Bible

undistinguishable

from many in the sanctuary –

ordinary Holy Bibles with

hundreds of thousands

of contemplated black words

upon thousands of well worn

white gilt-edged pages

 

But…

this woman's Bible

is extraordinary…

wildly splashed

with big bold dashes –

highlighter daubs of

blue, yellow, rose, green –

as Utterly…Unabashedly…Vibrant!

as each Living! Breathing! Word!

 

I smile…at how colorful

God made her

 

Maude Carolan

 

This poem was written in 2004 and appeared in Spindrift, an anthology published by Northwind Publishing, compiled for the Walt Whitman Festival in Ocean Grove, NJ, in 2006. I didn't know her name when I wrote the poem, but have since come to know this exciting, vibrant, spirit-filled woman is Carol Anne Zingale. Carol Anne is a member of my congregation, Beth Israel Messianic Center, Wayne, NJ.