Unbound: Celebrating National Poetry Month

April is National Poetry Month, and this year I felt a “nudge” to post one of my poems. I wrote this on Good Friday several years ago. This month, as we began the Triduum, which starts with Maundy Thursday and ends with the Easter Vigil, this poem came to mind. It is dedicated to the memory of Dave Worster, author of I Pray in Poems.

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Unbound

This year, on Good Friday,
He (Jesus) appeared to me
in a new way.
He jumped and spun and leapt and ducked.
He danced.

In church, I felt guilty. I thought I should be
more somber, sad, grieving. This is a day of
death and remembrance, after all
(if they knew the prayer in my mind, it wouldn’t be right)

But still, there he was
His feet moving fast
on soft, dusty earth.
His hands, reaching down – in a blur
to touch the ground
again and again.
Turning in a fast, unapologetic spin.
Breathless, unfettered, urgent.
A romp?

Not smiling, but almost.
Yes, there, in the eyes
(as if with mischief; certainly with delight)

A raw passion, fervor
A rough joy without restraint.
Perhaps, I thought, it’s all my projection
as I sat there in the quiet pew
the black cloth draped upon the cross.

Maybe I am out of sync
with the liturgical moment
Yet, I can’t deny it: this is the Christ
who appeared to me that day.

And honestly, if death was yours to vanquish,
what would you do
besides dance with abandon,
complete and unbound?

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Copyright, Kate H. Rademacher, 2025