At one point he reads from his book Holy Luck, a poem called “Beauty”.
He had no form or comeliness
That we should look at him,
And no beauty that we should desire him.
– ISAIAH 53:2
A whiff. A beagle for beauty I sniffed
Monet’s haystacks, van Gogh’s sunflowers,
Devoutly meditated Marilyn’s breasts,
Watched kingfishers–lost the scent
Kiss the leper’s wound: taste honey.
Touch the blind eye: learn Braille.
Keep vigil at the cradle: change diapers.
Drink tears from the chalice: live eucharist.
Happened on found things, found in gutters,
Found on a cross, found under a stone,
Heard in the rustling grass, heard in
A tongue stammering sabachthani.
Found when I wasn’t looking, heard
When I wasn’t listening. Found beauty.
And then he says, “Art is making visible what is invisible, in the life of faith. And that’s the most important thing about faith. Between you and me and God. But you can’t see it. But you can see when it is not there. There is no relationship, or there is criticism or anger or something. And I think that word between is a really powerful concept to understand what we are at all this time. “…. The minute we try to spiritualize Jesus we become. Gnostics, its an idea, just a truth, but there is no flesh to it. You’re the flesh, I’m the flesh, Jesus is the flesh."