LGBTQ+ Poem: The Angel in the Flesh, by Lou Sutherland

One of Leonardo da Vinci’s most prominent muses was also his male lover. da Vinci depicted him
in hundreds of sketches over decades, and incorporated his lover’s features into a few of his most
famous works, such as “Saint John the Baptist” and “The Angel Incarnate.”
– L’Angelo incarnato & Salai, Carlo Pedretti

If to love another person
is to see the face of God, then I would add that
God sunburns easily, blushes like a peeled cherry.
If God is fond of metaphor, then perhaps His eyes
are treacherous as foamless waves that slice into the Vitruvian Sea.
But His brow is gentle with creases, sparkling with moisture like the
shored furl of a hermit shell, an iridescent martyr to its own beauty.
If God holds all of His children in a grip of callus and hooked thumb,
then instead He holds me
in His throat like a column of salt, waiting to dissolve.
If God is reduced to speaking in tongues,
then He knows how tapping His to the back of my crooked teeth
forms the t of tree, tabernacle, turquoise.
Then He knows the twist of my mouth, the
citrus taste of morning stuck to my lips.
If We are traced from the image of God, then this explains
why Your fingers shadow atop of mine
like a strange mirror, like constellations on the ceiling of a church,
shifted slightly by memory.
This explains why when I fall onto my knees before You, I always keep
my eyes held open to the thorned laurel of Your laughing head,
my mouth slack in a wordless prayer.

Author: poetryfest

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