Jesus on High

Alan Berecka

November 3, 2024

        All Saints Episcopal Church, Corpus Christi

I’ve always tried to keep

the pious at arm’s length,

those who went out of their way

to throw wet blankets on the joys of life.

And yet I’m often confronted

by these priggish folks

who voice their concern

for my salvation as they reveal

the one and only true alcohol-free path.

I have often tried to point out 

Jesus was a vintner of the finest wine

ever tasted in Cana. I am told

by my zealot friends that I err

in my reading of The Good Book

because it’s obvious Jesus

brewed and drank grape juice.

There has never seemed to be

an end to this argument, until

the other day as I walked the labyrinth

at All Saints Episcopal Church,

and I happened to look up

at a 10-foot stained glass Jesus

who hovered on the ceiling

above my path, illumined

from behind by several bright

bulbs, and started to laugh

because finally I knew 

without a doubt, Jesus was lit.

Alan Berecka resides with his wife Alice and an ornery rescue dog named Ophelia in Sinton, Texas  He retired in January from being a librarian at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, and is settling into a whole new level of contentment. His poetry has appeared in such places as American Literary Review, Texas Review, and The San Antonio Express. He has authored three chapbooks, and six full collections, the latest of which is Atlas Sighs from Turning Plow Press, 2024. A Living is not a Life: A Working Title (Black Spruce Press, Brooklyn, 2021) was a finalist in the Hoffer Awards. From 2017-2019 he served as the first poet laureate of Corpus Christi.