Words for Church Builders

    by Carol Sanger

You believe that Peter was the Rock 
that built the church.  I knew him 
and I tell you he was a buffoon, 
a day laborer, thick-headed and muscled.

He was used by those ambitious 
and more cagey than he. 
I was destroyed because of him. 
He was jealous in the way stupid people are.

I danced in and out of the shadow. 
I understood the teachings. 
He could not move his feet.  
I ask you: what did the Rabbi leave us? 

Carpenter tools.  Simple stories. 
They went to Peter.
In my younger death, I called you fools. 
Now I am the exhale - I am the rustle you hear.

Look for mustard seeds 
among the rubble of Peter’s buildings
the discards of lives he wasted 
because he is a rock.