2006 Magdala Poetry Winners
Many thanks to all those who participated in our second Magdalen poetry contest. Our judge, Anne F. Edwards, is an accomplished poet whose work has been published in respected poetry journals. She writes: I was glad to see a song, and a litany and some illustrated works. ...Its so interesting how many of the poets seem to experience a kind of freedom in their contemplation of Mary's life... They're very nice. Quite a different group from two years ago."
FIRST PLACE
Magdalene at the Tomb
When people die -
they're dead.
A man doesn't just get up
out of his grave
and start walking around
tending to gardens
and eating fish dinners again.
She knew that.
Everything she knew told her,
don't hope.
So she wept.
And wasn't she right to weep?
We treat her so harshly.
Why didn't she know he would rise?
But I like to imagine
there was a little voice inside her
that said, believe it,
for has he ever uttered
an untrue word to you?
But she was a realist.
We are realists.
We can't believe it.
The Earth doesn't just
start spinning backwards,
a lake doesn't dry up over night,
the dead don't just get up,
toss their burial clothes into a pile,
and walk away from their graves.
But I suspect
she suspected he might.
I think we suspect it too.
Why else would we venture with her
out to the edges of town
on a dark Jerusalem night -
cold, alone, and afraid?
What other reason brings us there
on the morning of the third day
unless we think it will happen
just as he said?
She would be present
when history reversed itself,
when the natural order came undone,
when God said
something incredible
without uttering a single word.
She would stand in for all of us.
All of us realists
and rationalists
who know without a doubt
that the dead
don't come back to life.
They don't rise up from
their graves
and start handing out
fishing advice and forgiveness
and they don't approach us
in the orange glow of morning,
as we kneel
in the thick garden brush,
offering the gift of life.
Lisa M. Galek Seven Hills, Ohio
SECOND PLACE
MOUTHPIECE OF THE DOVE
Day breaking into the darkness;
stone rolled away.
Dew on sandaled feet
running past the gardner.
Beloved voice that spoke her into being,
life of the spirit breaking into the world
calling her by name, "Mary."
Entreating her, "Go tell my brothers....."
"Rabboni" cherished name on her lips.
Understanding breaking into consciousness.
Hearts flooding with light and joy.
Oh holy reunion!
Mouthpiece of the dove in the morning light,
"I have seen the risen Christ!"
Horizons shifting, boundaries breaking
expanding our little cosmos.
Still after two millenia,
men sit in fear behind locked doors
guarding their robes from the women,
while hearts of the called go on breaking.
Joyce Metts, SCNA Nazareth, MI
THIRD PLACE
"They have taken my Lord away
and I don't know where they have put Him." Jn 20:13
This was a matter for the men.
But I could never keep silent
any more than I could calm
my unruly hair, though both marked me.
Bold, I went where my heart led.
But I was still tight in a bud, still trying
to be the quiet, self-less woman
who knew her place, still ashamed.
Until I turned.
"Mary," he said,
and my heart answered.
He knew me better than I knew
myself: "Go, tell the others,"
he said, "bear the good news . . . "
and I blossomed.
Dorothy Howe Brooks Punta Gorda, FL
HONORABLE MENTION
The Joy of Mary Magdala
The Lament of Women
Did Jesus coo
When she rubbed his feet with oil
Like she would a newborn?
Did he kick and kick and kick
Delighting in this treat?
When her hair
Landed between his toes
Did he giggle?
Did his soles
Touch her soul?
When she had done
This glorious act of faith,
Was she as glad as he?
Or was their joy diminished
By self-righteous men?
A.J. Wagner
Dayton, OH
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