The alchemist of souls
The drunkard standing
at the entrance of the church said
he knows an alchemist that can
turn the soul to bread. I giggled and
entered the church in a hell-hole
of a town. The choir dressed in crow's uniform
sings from a torn hymn book. The preacher
talks about signs and I look to my left
and see an artist at the corner of the church
trying to draw the image of the
invisible God. His brush weeps blood.
The serpentine woman served us the holy
communion with a red curved horn.
I chew the bread she put in my mouth
and it tasted like my heart.
Hope Joseph has works in Notre Dame, CSM, Augur, Stormbird, A long house, Mukoli, SolarPunk, Riddlebird, Reckoning, and The Sunlight Press. He is a joint winner for SEVHAGE/Agema Founder’s Prize for Creative Non-Fiction, and a reader for reckoning press.
