< Back to Issue Eight

POETRY

On Leaving Jerusalem

it’s not the fists of
shadow men
running through my mind

not the mix of
blood and gravel
on my tip of tongue

I don’t revisit
all the steps
set in stone that day—

look I can’t answer
how he came
by so much cash

I didn’t ask
about the wine
sloshing on my wounds

or if the inn
he put me in charged
by day or hour—

but it’s the feet of
holy men
stepping to the side

those elite who
never traveled
through Samaria

the narrowed eyes
of passersby
interrogating still

---

Ryan Apple lives in Lansing, Michigan, with his wife Darcie and their six children. His first chapbook, Stars and Sparrows Alike, was published in November 2020 through Finishing Line Press. Ryan’s work has appeared in various journals, and nine of his poems were recently featured in the Poiema Poetry Series anthology, In a Strange Land: Introducing Ten Kingdom Poets. Read more at www.ryanapple.net.

---

Next (Kath Higgens) >
< Previous (Grace Claire Przywara)

---

Artwork: The Good Samaritan by Aimé Morot, 1880. Flickr.com.