Four Church Signs Outside Clemson, South Carolina
Photo by Skyler Smith on Unsplash THE BIBLE YOU GREW UP WITH church sign near my home The Big Book of wisdom literaturewas brought by rural route deliverytwice a year, a working woman’swish book, a catalog, it seemed of the whole earth. A testamentto our devotion, we’d await withanticipation each season’srevelation of the gospel truth. For my grandparents, a storiedhistory in its pages—toiletpaper, insulation, wallpaper andwindow-cleaner— and its products, orso they told, homesand heroin, hubcapsand tombstones too. But now, tome and tower—theworld’s tallest for twenty-fiveyears—both bankrupt, debtsunforgiven by bigger boxers. THE MOST POWERFUL POSITION IS ON YOUR KNEES church sign near my home All the elephants in the room agreethat this one takes the cakeand eats it too from missionaryto cowgirl, from topto bottom. But even those free to runtall through the understory,engineering an ecosystem remember ringmasters,remember what it’s liketo be goaded by bullhooks to genuflect under tents, stoopfor battlefield mount,lift logs of once-sheltering teak. It’s still a balancing act,juggling memory and moment,to fall …
