The Many Names of Christ

The Many Names of Christ I’ve heard him called a tender pioneer, but not yet silly sailor man, or goodly workman hipper than a hundred hipsters cheering, clerkly one whose workmanship can stand when it’s clutched. He’s also caterwauling pilot, shuttler of itinerant demands. He’s pilot light behind the furnace grill, lit always. It’s great to be available, he says, checking messages, waiting out our stalling and wailing. Unsurprisingly he spent a few days as Christ the Weasel (we’re talking Middle Ages), so that even as the serpent disobeys, he’s gnawing through its neck as in a rage with his sharp teeth. Beneath all this, he’s deftly cauterizing patients, surgeon ever paged. During residency, he built a life raft and left it here. He’s cardiologist with pierced ear, King of Leeches, consummately skilled in leech-craft. ß Brett Foster Author biography Brett Foster is the author of two poetry collections, ‘‘The Garbage Eater’’ (Triquarterly Books/Northwestern UP, 2011) and ‘‘Fall Run Road’’, which was awarded the Open Chapbook Prize. A new collection, ‘‘Extravagant Rescues’’, is forthcoming. His writing has appeared in Books & Culture, Boston Review, Hudson Review, IMAGE, Kenyon Review, Poetry Daily, Raritan, Shenandoah, Southwest Review, and Yale Review. He teaches creative writing and Renaissance literature at Wheaton College. 370 Christianity & Literature 64(3) ...