{"id":24154,"date":"2016-08-13T20:09:57","date_gmt":"2016-08-14T00:09:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/?p=24154"},"modified":"2016-08-14T14:43:16","modified_gmt":"2016-08-14T18:43:16","slug":"prompt-11-the-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/2016\/08\/prompt-11-the-mark\/","title":{"rendered":"Prompt 11: The Mark of the Wanderer"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was a simple man<\/span><\/p>\n

Gentle\u2013really<\/span><\/p>\n

Couldn\u2019t bear the cries<\/span><\/p>\n

of the lambs at the slaughter<\/span><\/p>\n

So much largesse, the earth<\/span><\/p>\n

Generous in her gifts<\/span><\/p>\n

bounteous fruits, ripe and round<\/span><\/p>\n

as a mother\u2019s bosom.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My brother\u2013he was the brute in his<\/span><\/p>\n

dominion over the animals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Slitter of throats, sanguineous spiller.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was the first professional killer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Funny how no one remembers that.<\/span><\/p>\n

All my years of labor, bent in the sun<\/span><\/p>\n

sowing, weeding, harvesting<\/span><\/p>\n

While my brother lazed in the grass,<\/span><\/p>\n

then slew the babes of the beasts in his care.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I made sacrifice, I offered to G-d<\/span><\/p>\n

the sweetest, the ripest, the juiciest<\/span><\/p>\n

The best of what grew from the sweat of my brow<\/span><\/p>\n

My brother, his crooked smile,<\/span><\/p>\n

His pile of rotting meat on the altar\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

Pleased G-d more. Of course.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scent of roasting fat<\/span><\/p>\n

Exquisite, delectable,<\/span><\/p>\n

Heavenly.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

To whom can one appeal<\/span><\/p>\n

when G-d is unfair?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I was not even allowed to be downcast.<\/span><\/p>\n

G-d himself chastised me.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sin is crouching at the door.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Yes, I opened the door and sin sidled in.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sin to hate your brother<\/span><\/p>\n

But hate him I did, smug face, second born<\/span><\/p>\n

Favorite son, beautiful boy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everything given to him because<\/span><\/p>\n

I was the first fruit of my mother\u2019s sin.<\/span><\/p>\n

So perhaps sin was ever my lot?<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The rock in my hand felt correct<\/span><\/p>\n

Felt true, the crushing of his skull<\/span><\/p>\n

a mellifluous crack, a satisfying shatter<\/span><\/p>\n

In that moment, I understood my brother<\/span><\/p>\n

For the first time, the joy of the kill<\/span><\/p>\n

The power, the potency<\/span><\/p>\n

The way the earth drank of his dark liquor<\/span><\/p>\n

Avid for it\u2013the greedy earth, so familiar to me<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d fed her before, I feed her again<\/span><\/p>\n

The blood of my brother, his brains, all that he was<\/span><\/p>\n

All that he would ever be.<\/span><\/p>\n

The greatest gift it was indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

I left him there to nourish the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then, a voice in thunder:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhere is thy brother?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The All Knowing, the Sky Father, asked of me.<\/span><\/p>\n

I said, in my rage,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAm I my brother\u2019s keeper?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Turns out that G-d is as fond of sarcasm<\/span><\/p>\n

As I am of loaded questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

He denied me the fruit of the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

The earth cares not<\/span><\/i>, I thought. <\/span>The earth is indifferent<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

And now she\u2019s indifferent to me.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s fitting. There\u2019s nothing I could give her<\/span><\/p>\n

That would taste as fine as Abel\u2019s meat.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then G-d passed His sentence upon me<\/span><\/p>\n

Touched His finger to my forehead<\/span><\/p>\n

oh how it burned, the torment of His judgment<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

A sign, a diadem, a Mark<\/span><\/p>\n

That I should walk and all should quake to see me<\/span><\/p>\n

First born, first murderer.<\/span><\/p>\n

But none should ever touch me, lest he<\/span><\/p>\n

suffer the wrath of G-d.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A punishment? This? An eternity to walk<\/span><\/p>\n

This land that despises me<\/span><\/p>\n

To bear sons, to build cities<\/span><\/p>\n

To rest never, to cease never.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The truth? The final secret?<\/span><\/p>\n

In the end\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

G-d approved my sacrifice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The blood of Abel was delicious<\/span><\/p>\n

And G-d supped on it and found it good.<\/span><\/p>\n

A better sacrifice than lambs\u2013<\/span><\/p>\n

So now I Am Who Am<\/p>\n

Has an unquenchable appetite<\/span><\/p>\n

For the gore and essence of mankind.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Because of me.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

So I walk, unburdened by family<\/span><\/p>\n

To bear witness to a G-d<\/span><\/p>\n

Who loves blood, who quaffs it<\/span><\/p>\n

As ravenously and indifferently as the earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

The distant stars my roof, the furious earth my bed.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

None must \u00a0harm me. All must quake to see me.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my punishment.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is my reward.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was a simple man Gentle\u2013really Couldn\u2019t bear the cries of the lambs at the slaughter So much largesse, the earth Generous in her gifts bounteous fruits, ripe and round as a mother\u2019s bosom.   My brother\u2013he was the brute in his dominion over the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":771,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,441],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-half-marathon-poem","category-poetry-prompt-responses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/771"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24154"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29081,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24154\/revisions\/29081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}