Joseph at the Grave

STEVEN LAUTERMILCH*

The woodworking of flesh turning to stone.

Hinge of ear, scroll and bevel of lip, crude

lid

of a countenance.

And the stone obeying, answering

the clay

taking shape, rising,

bending to pattern, revealing like green wood

aging contour and depth moisture

level

and edge (bark and frame not of the raised

grain only, but

the figure within the grain, inner face

of knot and twist, concentered

ring

and root packed

core,

wellspring fountain

head

and keel of the visible tree).

All that was hidden coming to light, surfacing muscle

of tendril and trunk, coil of vein

budstem and leaf

awakening, feeling the need, hearing the cry

of saw, drive and bite

of chisel, bearing the flow of plane, burn of augur

drill and adze, blow of mallet

and punch and nail.

* Steven Lautermilch taught for twenty-one years at University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Copyright Anglican Theological Review, Inc. Winter 1998
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