Poem | 'Cosmos'

By Valerie Wohlfeld
October 5, 2016
Poetry
Share

In the niched cosmos of the church wall,
Christ’s palms, painted vermillion,
metamorphose—
in wood and tempera
he holds whole the lead-white
thorns and false roses.

Published in the October 21, 2016 issue: 
View Contents
Tags
Poetry

Valerie Wohlfeld’s most recent book of poetry is Woman with Wing Removed (Truman State University Press). Her first collection, Thinking the World Visible, won the Yale Younger Poets Prize. Her poems have been nominated six times for a Pushcart Prize.

Also by this author
Poem | 'Curio'

Please email comments to letters@commonwealmagazine.org and join the conversation on our Facebook page.

Share

Must Reads

Politics

Misenchantment

Mammon has seduced us. The only true path of resistance to capitalism’s destructive energies is one that leads away from the logic of markets.
By David Bentley Hart
January 6, 2020
Religion

A Cathedral Not Made by Hands

In an old-growth forest, everything is connected. No individual plant or animal, and indeed no species, is an island. As Pope Francis warns, we should pay attention.
By Vincent Miller
December 30, 2019
Culture

Pilgrims

Had I known before that the greatest gift of the road was the love of another human being? Of course I had. But I had not fully understood.
By Kathleen Hill
January 10, 2020
Books

Philosopher in the Ring

What can boxing teach us about the good life? Gordon Marino riffs on Sartre, Kierkegaard, and Camus, finding that in order to save our lives, we must risk loving.
By Steven Knepper
January 8, 2020
Collections

Injustice at the Border

The suffering of migrants and refugees on the border cannot be forgotten. Nor can the Trump administration’s deliberate cruelty toward them.
By The Editors
October 28, 2019
© 2020 Commonweal Magazine. All rights reserved. Design by Point Five, NY. Development by Deck Fifty Design.