the anointing falls, a wind that hits, stirs up,
limbers everyone, some sway like dogwoods
some sail down the aisles, crumple in heaps
the church rocks and reels, Sister Mae
testifies, there is crying and hollering
that rises, rises, then recedes, there is hush,
faint sobbing, you hear the still small
voice of the electric oscillating fan,
the buzz that stirs the stale air, do this
it says, abide it says, it cools the back
of your neck a moment, then turns
and you nearly flee this ravished place
you smell wood, the walls trapping heat,
the pine benches, the sap, you smell bodies,
sweat, dark circles, the men damp,
the women damp, a trace of Ivory soap,
bodies that work with coal and slate,
deer meat and grease, bodies that smell
like their work, hand over your nose
you smell them stronger, them a part
of you, they are you now, the still small
hum of the fan again, the stirring,
the cool, while it hums on you, you stay
Grassy Branch Pentecostal Church Electric Oscillating Fan
Show Comments (
)
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.
The latest from america
When people face incurable illness, fear of the unknown is a major force that can drive their thinking. The task of physicians is to help calm people and correct their misunderstandings.
This week on “Jesuitical,” Zac and Ashley chat with Mark Francis, C.S.V., who attended Catholic Theological Union with Leo XIV (then known as Bob Prevost), about the unique education that shaped the future pope.
Catholic bishops are calling for prayer after two Israeli Embassy staff members were slain late May 21 outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington.
President Trump offered a vibrant demonstration of the kind of worst-case scenario Pope Leo may have had in mind about the collapse of critical thinking.