Aspiring to Dew More
Kenneth Morrison steps out in front of the small group. He raises his arms and eyes to the ceiling and, with a preacher’s inflection, says, “Scriptures suggest that the return of Jesus was near. But what if Jesus was already here? What if Jesus was a prostitute?” The small audience of MICA graduate students offer mmm-hmmms of affirmation.
Morrison’s voice lifts and dips in poetic cadence. “But what if? What if Jesus came back as my mother?” he asks. “What if Jesus’ greatest miracle was giving her son everything he ever needed even when she had nothing to give? And if you can worship a god that sacrificed her son to save some sinners then surely you worship a sinner that sacrificed her soul to save her son.” With his last line, he opens his hands in a there-you-have-it gesture. At 6-foot-3, he towers over the students, but he draws his power from his words and voice.
Morrison isn’t a reverend, he’s a poet. And the students aren’t parishioners, they’re attending a spoken-word poetry workshop.