“Lazarus” by Brian Kirk

Imagine the stench it must have made,
a cadaver rising from the tomb.
A boy from the West Bank, four days dead,
arose as if from sleeping in his bed,
discarding his frayed Halloween costume.
Imagine the stench he must have made,
offending the senses of the startled crowd,
he who had graced Hell’s anteroom.
This boy from the West Bank, four days dead,
now blinded by a brilliant sun above his head,
his sisters gagging on death’s dank perfume.
Imagine the stench he must have made,
eyeballs rolling in his bandaged head,
the crowd aghast to see a defunct life resume.
This boy from the West Bank, four days dead,
approaching them with menace in his tread,
not loved one now but transubstantiated loon.
Imagine the stench he must have made,
this boy from the West Bank, four days dead.

Brian Kirk has published two poetry collections with Salmon Poetry, After The Fall (2017) and Hare’s Breath (2023) and a short fiction chapbook It’s Not Me It’s You (Southword Editions, 2019). His novel Riverrun was chosen as a winner of the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair 2022. His website: www.briankirkwriter.com.