458 - Annunciation

Annunciation

By Kathy Coffey


Artists clutter the picture
with lilies, cherubim,
a book. They should show
the void: immense and gaping,
an abyss yawning, ignorant
aimless, hollow, unredeemed.

Intense as laser in her
such seeding, such turmoil
surging to birth
it made the lilies look
limp, the cherubs bony
the book blank.

She saw the tension: a
world pivoting on its hunger
poised for her answer
balanced against a child,
a brittle sword.
Then she said yes.


Kathy Coffey teaches English at the University of Colorado, Denver, and Regis College. Her work has appeared in America, Spiritual Life, National Catholic Reporter, Marriage and Family, Catechumenate, Christian Science Monitor, Praying, and The Christian Century. Her poetry has appeared previously in THEOLOGY TODAY.