Undone

A Chiastic Sonnet

Nalini Jayasuriya, Go, Sin No More (mixed media on cloth, 2004), in The Christian Story: Five Asian Artists Today, eds. Patricia C. Pongracz, Volker Küster, John W. Cook (New York: Museum of Biblical Art, 2007), 119.

My poem “Undone” (below) is based on the story of the woman caught in adultery in John 8:1-11. I wanted this poem’s structure to draw out the dynamics of this woman’s contrasting encounters with the religious leaders and Jesus, respectively. I settled on an innovative blend of two poetic forms:

• The Petrarchan Sonnet — 14 lines of iambic pentameter, with a “turn” (or “volta”) between the first stanza (the problem) and the second stanza (the resolution)

• The Chiasmus — in which the the first line is paired with the last line, the second line with the second-to-last line, and so on toward the middle. It draws its name from the Greek letter X (“Chi”) for its shape and is often used in the Bible.

The first stanza of this sonnet shows the woman becoming undone as the religious leaders judge her and are ready to stone her (the problem), while the second stanza shows how their sentence was undone by Jesus (the resolution). Each line in the Jesus stanza both rhymes with its chiastic pair in the first stanza and thematically undoes it.

Note: If you’re on a phone, try turning your phone horizontal to help the poem’s lines fit.

Undone

They dragged me out in all my naked shame
   yelling “Adulteress!” with hungry eyes
      and stones in hand. I hid there in the day,
         crouched down beneath the sounds of pious men
            condemning me for choices I had made—
               though not a word about the man who’d fled.
                  They hurled their questions at the rabbi, baiting.

                  But he… he crouched down, silent like me, waiting,
               a wordless word that no one else there said.
            There, dead before the law, desperate, I prayed.
         He rose and answered: “He who has no sin
      can stone her first.” Like stars, they hid away.
   Alone, he talked with me—looked in my eyes—
and set me free. I've never been the same.

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Poems in Books

I’m still working on publishing my own poetry collection, but in the meantime, I’m excited to have poems tucked away in two forthcoming books that you can pre-order.

• We Mend with Gold: An Immigrant Daughter's Reckoning with American Christianity by Kristin T. Lee is a thoughtful and timely memoir/reflection about Kristin’s experience in both the Asian immigrant church and the white evangelical church—and her journey of deconstructing and mending her fractured faith. I read an early draft of this book and it was already incredible—definitely worth the pre-order (one of the best ways to help a book launch well). I’m honored to have a new poem in these pages, singing in harmony with Kristin’s melody of beautiful prose.

• I’m delighted to have three poems in I’ve Got a Bad Case of Poetry, an illustrated anthology of children’s poems. It sailed past its Kickstarter goal a while ago, but it’s not too late to grab a copy!

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Notes

The artwork above is by the late Sri Lankan painter Nalini Jayasuriya who, incidentally, was instrumental in encouraging Sawai Chinnawong (one of my favorite Thai artists) to paint biblical scenes in traditional Thai styles, which became his life’s work. You can find more of Jayasuriya’s work in the book The Christian Story: Five Asian Artists Today.

Thanks to Resolute Magazine for originally publishing “Undone.”

Finally, thank you for reading! I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions on the poem, the artwork, or anything else, so feel free to reply or leave a comment.