a poem about flesh and blood in the world of AI
I bleed like a woman in childbirth
I throb like a soldier’s pulse
my womb and His side penetrated
by spirit or spear
I pour forth.
Embodied, I swim holy waters
swirling with blood and wine
whose currents short-circuit machine monsters
and spiral eddies drown
gnostic gods
Behind a screen
en-vatted minds that never thirst
dream they float on by. They lie.
Above I gaze where blood moons bleed
like sky stigmata in the hands of God
casting celestial syzygies like cosmic eulogies
inside, my body swoons,
her red tides dance in tune
Sanguis Christi me compellit
Bleeding, where once I reached for fruit
now I grasp at garment hems
infused with divine charge
Seizing material in a spirit world
Word become flesh dripping with perfumed oil
awash with hope and tangled hair
Forgive us, Lord
we know not what we prompt
to conjure bloody sweat or salty tears
or exquisite touch so rare
instead, we are well-done by electric mediums
terror biting sacred hearts
Sanguinavit, ergo sum
Heed the desire of angels
they who would trade wings for skin
of mortal bodies that keep score through
wounds that scar, joints that fail,
guts that hunger and loins that crave
Sticky, wet, and juicy
pungent, perishable and moist
Oh God, yes!
Even madness seems mysterious
and nonsense quite delicious
in the face of perfect sanity
and virtual humanity
Do not be mistaken
broken minds and feeble prayers
still summon interceding Ghosts
more powerful than any code
Sanguinavit, Ego Sum
Yearning, I am ravished
naked by a visceral gospel
leaving myrrh-soaked shrouds
in its bloody wake
Forgive us, Lord we did not understand till now
the gift of breath or wonder-working pow’r
superstition implodes in paradox
relic and ritual are real
Collapsing I am seized
by sublime fires that storm inside my mind
yet I arise,
my bruises bearing witness to incarnate truth
Sanguino, ergo sum
It was always about the blood
Tanja Stark 2025
p.s. I’m cross-posting to Substack now too.