Walking with Jesus by Barbara Crooker

Walking with Jesus

by Barbara Crooker

in the Blue Ridge Mountains, eating corn fritters

and okra, passing the black-eyed peas. He loves

redbirds and kudzu, all that green tenaciousness.

He’s not so much of a fan of men in white sheets,

gun racks, the Stars and Bars, but he’s Jesus, so

he loves them anyway. The gospel of football

eludes him, but he sure likes to tailgate. He tells

me that all the commandments are really

about sitting with your neighbors on a wide

front porch, eating peach pie, watching the sun

go down. Why are you still going on about sin

and salvation, he asks me, when you have all this,

right here, right now?

I found this poem after looking up the poet. I had previously been looking for Jesus poems, given the recent picture recently posted by the U.S. president, and had been disappointed in what I had found. Then Barbara's poem! Perfect!

This poem begins with a wonderful title, which seems like a well-known trope, yet surprises the reader as the poet means literally walking with Jesus. Crooker sets us in the Blue Ridge Mountains; she tells us as much, and goes on to provide setting-specific details. The details continue with a short list of things Jesus loves, even when he does not understand or the things go against all Jesus symbolizes (I include kudzu here, as it takes over and destroys everything in its path).

The poem ends with Jesus talking to the speaker. First, she relates to us what he says and then we get his voice. The interpretation of the commandments is delightful and very much set in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where Jesus and the speaker are.

We are then treated to Jesus' own words, and he has a question for the speaker that many of us mere mortals have: with all the beauty and goodness in the world, why do we focus on

what happens later and the evil that exists. Y'all know I love poems with questions!

I also love the phrase "all that green tenaciousness" in the fourth line. It is such a clever way to describe nature and, if we did not already know, it clues us in to this poem having its figurative tongue firmly in its cheek.

This poem is from the poet's 2017 book, Les Fauves, from C&R Press. You can learn more about Barbara and read more of her work on her website--click here.