Jesus Paints Graffiti
I’m pretty sure Jesus is a morning person
that he wakes up in a good mood
He denies he ever spoke personally to George Bush
Maybe he spoke to Bob Dylan
Jesus wears a bathrobe and reads the obituaries
He has a long braid like Willie Nelson’s
He drinks his tea black
leaves the cap off the toothpaste
and never uses an ATM machine
He’s never won a poetry slam
or been published in the New Yorker
He runs full page ads in the New York Times
and blushes when he’s on the cover
of People Magazine: Sexiest Man Alive
Jesus painted graffiti on a strip mall Kmart in 1989
Next to a blue planet in bold black letters
he wrote: ON THE EIGHTH DAY WE PAVED IT
He left it unsigned
~ Colleen Redman
Post notes: You can read about how this poem came about HERE.
The photo is from an old Roanoke Times newspaper clipping that I scanned from my scrapbook, taken during the building of the Christiansburg Virginia KMart. The caption that accompanied it described the graffiti as “eco-vandalism.”
January 28th, 2008 9:24 pm
I LOVE it, Colleen! Paved it is right! Michele will love this one!
January 28th, 2008 9:57 pm
as long as he suffered, died and rose again, he can be and do what ever he wishes, my place next to the Father is secure.
He is the Word, and the word of truth has set me free.
Preaching tonight from michele’s
Yaya!
January 29th, 2008 2:29 am
Hi Colleen
I really love this poem!
Just wonderful!
Margie
January 29th, 2008 3:09 am
fabulous, colleen! 🙂
January 29th, 2008 9:11 am
I love the way you imagine Jesus. Especially the part about the black tea and toothpaste.
January 29th, 2008 9:27 am
may I copy this – so fine made me laugh and think..sk
January 29th, 2008 9:52 am
Yes, Sandy.
January 29th, 2008 10:44 am
This is a wicked pissah poem!
January 29th, 2008 11:32 am
Oh Colleen I really liked this poem.
January 29th, 2008 11:46 am
Excellent!! If I had a time machine I would travel back to 25AD and tickle Jesus to see if he would laugh. Have you ever noticed that you never see him laugh in the pictures?
January 29th, 2008 12:12 pm
Oh, I soooooo love this poem…your idea of Jesus and mine is pretty similar! Nice down to earth sort of guy!!!!
January 29th, 2008 4:15 pm
i believe he was down to earth…. that’s why people flocked to him….a gentle, humble soul.
i love the eco-graffiti! hmmm… gives me ideas! 🙂
January 29th, 2008 8:21 pm
those fellows who tagged it didn’t have Jesus in mind, but they had the Spirit, for sure…
January 29th, 2008 11:03 pm
Love the poem. Somehow thinking of Jesus as a man like many other men makes him seem just more plausable.
January 30th, 2008 12:49 am
Oh, I love this! So much more full of life than I was raised to believe. It must have been fun to write.
January 30th, 2008 11:43 am
Love it! Love it.
January 30th, 2008 5:42 pm
Yes, I can see Him, sitting there at the kitchen table in His big thick bathrobe. And slippers.
Colleen, you are the only person I know who is brave enough to take a picture of the scale while weighing yourself. Remember a few years back, when they tried to market a scale that would SAY YOUR WEIGHT OUT LOUD when you stepped on it?
Oh, yeah, sure. Nobody bought it; it tanked.
February 1st, 2008 3:55 pm
For deep reasons I can’t quite fathom, this poem really speaks to me… it makes me want to write about my own personal Jesus. I think my Jesus would ruffle feathers tho, and I can imagine a few people taking it personally rather than ideally. lol But I love the sentiment and the images you painted so cleanly and clearly.
~S
February 2nd, 2008 10:46 am
So enjoyed reading the full development of this poem. I say Jesus doesn’t own an iphone but he reads blogs. He really apprecitates his tech guy, whose last name is Angel. Who would he vote for in November? Bono.
February 2nd, 2008 2:44 pm
Colleen, I’d like to share your poem with our Writers Group at the Franklin County Library, with proper attribution, of course.
February 2nd, 2008 3:59 pm
Feel free, Marion.
February 3rd, 2008 10:48 pm
Hi colleen … thanks for dropping by from michele’s … nice poem. I love your blog … I’ve bookmarked it and will be back.
February 8th, 2008 3:35 pm
Much enjoyed. Especially the reading of the obituaries.
Rick
February 9th, 2008 8:45 am
Love that.
August 1st, 2009 12:01 am
great! a very rich image of jesus.