{"id":12902,"date":"2016-08-01T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-01T06:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/?p=12902"},"modified":"2016-07-23T03:00:21","modified_gmt":"2016-07-23T09:00:21","slug":"316-so-loved","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/archives\/12902","title":{"rendered":"3:16 :: So Loved"},"content":{"rendered":"

fresh from his bath__<\/span>I clip my son\u2019s
\ntoenails__<\/span>& somehow the non-smelly
\nfact of his washed feet conjures the Jes\u00fas<\/p>\n

of my youth:\u2014for a child he was giant
\n& silent & pungent & hard
\nfor school children not to burn<\/p>\n

down with torches of honesty
\nmy poor family only stayed in that poor town
\nlong enough for me to fall for Jes\u00fas<\/p>\n

me: already the clumsy collector of
\nthe castoff\u2014my heart\u2019s false population
\nof hurt things rising__<\/span>during dance class<\/p>\n

as kids fled & sniggered__<\/span>I lingered
\nin the center of that room until Jes\u00fas
\n& I (the new kid__<\/span>myself quiet & odd)<\/p>\n

remained the only non-pair__<\/span>each time
\nthe music began__<\/span>a smile was all
\nJes\u00fas needed to let loose__<\/span>& I swear<\/p>\n

I could feel his shuffle shifting
\nthe boards beneath our feet__<\/span>& his reckless
\nbig-body twirl threatened to tear<\/p>\n

my short arms from their sockets
\nthose were my earliest denials
\nof communal pain: the cost of looking<\/p>\n

into eyes ignited & made familiar
\nwith joy\u2014of being dangled
\nby the danger of hands you aren\u2019t ready<\/p>\n

to release__<\/span>& I carried that soreness home
\nlike prayer\u2014: to the everlasting scent & size
\nof Jes\u00fas__<\/span>to the ungainly world of his grace<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Geffrey Davis<\/h6>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

As in, John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
\nthat whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

fresh from his bath__I clip my son\u2019s toenails__& somehow the non-smelly fact of his washed feet conjures the Jes\u00fas of my youth:\u2014for a child he was giant & silent & pungent & hard for school children not to burn down with torches of honesty my poor family only stayed in that poor town long enough […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":647,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[48],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Jypy-3m6","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12902"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/647"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12902"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12946,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12902\/revisions\/12946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}