a couple of weeks ago jim mccrary emailed me his latest chap. have read it a number of times now, and like much of mccrary's work, it is replete with jump-cuts in imagery, slang and a pared-down approach to the texts' subject. in this case these 8 poems are about the hallucinations of mary magdalene.

i didn't jump on the dan brown bandwagon a few months back, even tho, lazy catholic that i am, hay-suess and mary were all the rage. yet when an excellent poet like mccrary hits the subject, i'm all eyes and ears. the poems spin from mary to jesus to bush in the white house. 2 of the lines in a poem references mary's travails in that she was called 'possessed // I call it fucked . . .so to speak'.

so mary was, and is, since the vatican hates to see mary elevated to the level she enjoys in, for example, the hispanic community. i speak broadly now, since i've never really attended a proper mass, and sitting in church was more of an abstraction for me when i was a child. however, hanging in the mexican restaurant a couple of blocks from my house is a painting of mary embracing the late pope john paul. in other words, mary matters big.

and there are mccrary's poems as large as life too. i'm not sure when the book will come out. mccrary is famous for self-publishing his work. but when it is printed clamor for a copy, because he also matters big. i'll end with just a taste.

Mary oh Mary

You come back to

The season of the witch

The white witch bush in the white house

Mary oh Mary