Sonnet 11, 12, and 13
by Elder Gideon
SONNET 11
by Elder Gideon
The dome broke open
when the Spirit entered him.
We know this.
Just as he was coming up out of the water,
he saw the heavens rent apart.
Hear it? This means that even heavens
enclose the dome. They are raiment
to You who wear them.
To receive the annihilating light without
breaking requires passing away.
This might be why when it was finished,
and his Spirit returned from beyond the dome,
the curtain tore apart from top
to bottom, revealing nothing there
but the way out, the exodus.
SONNET 12
The exodus from this world is within.
The world is not the earth,
but what words have made.
The space inside each of us manifests.
We are thought as we think.
As we speak, we are sought
by those who want a body. Bodies realize.
What happens here stays here.
Nothing disappears.
Blood cries out from the ground. This is why
You came and pitched a tent among us.
With a body, one can offer.
Through the body shines the door.
SONNET 13
The door joins twin continua, Spirit
and matter, without beginning. Adam
means Spirit-in-the-blood,
not a man, but Your
micro macro cosm. See—
the letters Alef א Dalet ד Mem ם:
Alef א is Spirit pinwheeling:
Dalet ד is door that lets in:
Mem ם is closed as the dome
of precedence. Whatever happened
is a process as natural as
forgetting to remember. That's it.
The deeper Spirit aerates matter,
the deeper matter becomes Spirit.
ELDER GIDEON
Twice nominated for the 2023 Pushcart Prize, Elder Gideon is the author of three poetry collections—Sophia’s Wisdom (forthcoming with EPS Press), Gnostic Triptych, and Aegis of Waves (Atmosphere Press)—and co-author with Tau Malachi of Gnosis of Guadalupe (EPS Press, 2017).
His poems, essays, and sculptures have appeared in dozens of journals. He’s an alumnus of the 2022 Kenyon Review Summer Conference and the 2021 Community of Writers.
A veteran English teacher-activist and faith leader of a mystical Christian tradition, Gideon lives to connect. Reach out to him @elder.gideon or eldergideon@gmail.com.
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