Trapped in Leviticus

they are trapped in the thou shalt nots
& forget forgiveness, quoting over & over
a book wiped away by the new covenant;
twisting theology to fit
their own brand of rightness

why are we silent,
opening our mouths only
to sing hymns, we
who love God but not the politics
that claim to own him
as if Jesus had a political party,
as if greed and hate were ever virtues

letting them borrow the appearance of faith
to whitewash inner wrongness,
forgetting the lessons
of the pharisees

their external purity
masking something old, dead
& very human

nothing divine lives
in those tombs
they call hearts

***I doubt this poem needs an introduction–we all know who it is for.