Mary, Mary, Quite ....

“Mary, Mary, Maculata,”
how does your walking go ?
Dreamlike, oblivious to our stare ….
No word or name, parading so,
you seem “blaspheme,”
like elephant-dung on Virgin’s frame  [i]
From Heaven’s view
through a glass, darkly  [ii]
Earth’s Mary-Mirror, opposite:
Maculata, for “stained and spotted,”..[iii]
frail, and old and torn – surely not a maiden
nor virgin, probably
 
She has assumed her own Dormition..[iv]
as she walks with dainty vacancy,
urination, defecation,
in clothes the sane don’t wear
her mildness yet so wild –
long strands of uncombed hair ….

Homeless in our city, no – just sleeping rough –
park dirt, road dirt, and shelterless by choice. . .
Mindless, sexless, gesture and no voice
mostly present with no past,
protected still by Joseph, or some Wise Man
–  smoke and coffee move time fast
 
Alone in emptiness of busy street
like the Miracle Man “possessed”
and breaking his chains near caves,   [v]
self-destroyed by daily wounds,
whom none could help or save
and only Christ could change.
But here –  not yet, God has not come –.
How strange ….
 
Still, she is Queen of the Negaverse,
Anti-matter, anti-quark, mud in mud-puddle,
sending yet a spark, magnet-like to Heaven,
“Mary Immaculate, Mother of God,
pray for his Child – quite contrary”  [vi]
 
                                                                        (2020) 

[i]   “The Holy Virgin Mary”.  Wikipedia.org.  {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holy_Virgin_Mary}  (accessed January 10, 2022).   
“On a yellow-orange background, the large painting depicts a black woman wearing a blue robe ….The work employs mixed media, including oil paint, glitter, and also elephant dung, and collaged pornographic images…inspired by a period that Ofili spent in Zimbabwe ….The painting was made in 1996 and became a cause of controversy ….The City of New York brought a court case against the Brooklyn Museum….”    

[ii]   St Paul, a Biblical phrase from 1 Corinthians 13:12.  

[iii]   “Immaculate  (adj.)”. Online Etymological Dictionary. {https://www.etymonline.com/word/immaculate}  (accessed January 10, 2022). 
“  ‘free from mental or moral pollution, pure,’  from a figurative use of Latin  immaculatus  ‘un-stained’ … (see in-  +  maculatus  – spotted, defiled,  past participle of maculare  – to spot, from macul  – spot, blemish,  a word of uncertain origin.’  
“ The literal sense of  ‘spotlessly clean or neat’  in English is first attested 1735….The phrase Immaculate Conception,  ‘freedom from original sin possessed by the Virgin Mary from her conception in her mother's womb,’  is from late 15c. in English … the idea itself had been debated in the Church since 12c., declared to be an article of faith in 1854.’  ”   

[iv]   “Dormition of the Mother of God”. Wikipedia. org. {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dormition_of_the_Mother_of_God}  (accessed January 10, 2022)   
“The Dormition of the Mother of God is a Great Feast of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches which celebrates the "falling asleep" (death) of Mary the Theotokos ("Mother of God”) . . .and her being taken up into heaven (bodily assumption)” 

[v]   St. Mark, 5: 3-6,  USCCB  –  United States Catholic Conference of Bishops.   {https://bible.usccb.org/bible/mark/5}  (accessed January 10, 2022).    –                                                               
“The man had been dwelling among the tombs, and no one could restrain him any longer, even with a chain. In fact, he had fre-quently been bound with shackles and chains, but the chains had been pulled  apart by him and the shackles smashed, and no one
was strong enough to subdue him.  Night and day among the
                                                                (continued on next page)
tombs and on the hillsides he was always crying out and bruising himself with stones.  Catching sight of Jesus from a distance, he ran up and prostrated himself before him.”

[vi]   “Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary”.  Wikipedia.org.  {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary,_Mary,_Quite_Contrary}  (accessed January 10, 2022)  –  “an English nursery rhyme. The rhyme has been seen as having religious and historical significance, but its origins and meaning are disputed …   
“  ‘Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow ?’ 
‘With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row.’  ”