Jesus-Man

A poem by Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas

On a day like this, when it's quiet sometimes

I let my mind drift back in time and think about

that man who used to roam our neighborhood

when I was just a girl. Back in the days when

no one worried about that kind of thing, a man

walking around our block all day, round  

and round in infinite circles, his amber hair

lifting from the wind like a flower leaning

closer to the sun, the way he'd flip his head

about and let his shimmering locks fall back

in place like a pile of leaves settling after a storm.

We called him the Jesus Man, because

he looked sort of beautiful in an unkempt

kind of way, and no one knew his name,

or where he lived for sure, just one of

the houses near the cul-de-sac further

down the street, some unfindable place

to the viewer for the way he always

disappeared after turning the corner,

after that last spin each day. If I watched

long enough, it became a game, from my window,

to see how many times he'd walk by.

I used to tell my mother I liked the way he strolled

effortlessly, one foot in front of the other

with a kind of grace, as if he knew he wasn't

going anywhere important enough to matter,

or unimportant enough to care, his pace

so even and the look on his face, more

saintly than mad, his countenance unwavering

as if he'd been asked a question and was

forever thinking of the answer — he moved

with a human centrifugal force until the day,

he didn't, when the sidewalk looked as if

it was saving the open space, waiting

for him to come again, as if anyone else

would be in violation to even put a foot

down on the cement where he travelled

the world in rotation. And I am sorry now,

I never asked him why he loved to walk,

or where it was he was going, or what it

was to embrace the humdrum as he

meandered past the huge magnolias on either

side of his endless path, I wish I would have

told him how much I'd wanted to come too.

Hear Carol read her poem:

Jesus-ManCarol Grellas

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Carol Lynn Stevenson Grellas is a graduate of Vermont College of Fine Arts with an MFA in Writing. She’s served as editor-in-chief for The Orchards Poetry Journal and Tule Review. A thirteen-time Pushcart and seven-time Best of the Net nominee, she was named Centennial Poet for the California Writers Club's 100th anniversary.

Image: Man walking by 550Park