What if we were named after what we bring each other? (poem)

*is

True story. Christmas Day 2022.

Jesus is a Black woman
I’ll let that sink in…

Jesus is a Black Woman
she lives on the street
outside the Laundromat
on University Ave

This is not an abstract concept
this is reality, not metaphor
insight, not reason
This information is valid even if
you disagree

Her dog’s name is Bible
He is a Chihuahua mix
He is tethered to her ankle
She calls him her comfort animal

Jesus just wants a phone
a ride
a bathroom
cigarettes
someone to talk to
someone to walk with

She calls them a word I cannot say
the White folk, the Black folk, the Brown folk
the ones who threw her out
the ones who pass her by
everyday

Every Day

She hates Des Moines
She says it doesn’t want her
She says it doesn’t have her

Jesus is proud of her name,
proud to christen herself
She says she deserves it
Says she is slave to no one

She smells of human skin and Kool Lite 100s
$10 a pack
$10 a FUCKING pack
She pays with her own money

Jesus wants to live forever
but not on the curb
She says you don’t have to kill anything to live
She says to die is to burn
She does not want to burn

Jesus is a Black Woman
Do you understand?

She calls me Water because I brought her water
But what would she have called me yesterday?
And what will she call me tomorrow?