Openings and Obfuscations

Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

- Matthew 3:13-17

A break in the clouds cracked the God-barrier open

the heavens sang and summoned him as benevolence

but then, as always happens and must happen,

the closing, the occlusion of the space between

the synapse spreads and the search for chemical signals

to fill the gap with electric pulses higher than lightning

Whether Jesus’ baptism or your own plunging initiation

maybe a mystical desert epiphany of dazzling diamond light

a Himalayan climb  into oxygen-starved euphoric heights

or a canyon ramble descending to depth and profundity

whether pharmaceutical prescriptions for bliss and dreamland

or wild fungus visions of you outside yourself in glory

You will always come back to this mundane moment like Jesus

walking on from the Jordan to middling towns you trod again

the profane path of normalcy: a breakfast egg, kissing, money spent,

ICU waiting room, neat whiskey, forest walks, a desk and its chair,

so thick with obfuscation you feel lost in these days, but

even these wanting words can’t completely hide the wonder