Emily Vance Brown

by Chris Watkins

Go with me.
It’s just as likely as a virgin birth.
So let’s live in a world where Joseph
knew it was a miracle
the whole time
and didn’t have to be convinced
by any angels.
Let’s say he led the donkey proudly
all the way to Bethlehem.
Let’s live in a world—
because we can in a poem—
where no one said anything
about the two of them being together
and raising a child, and Herod
only wanted to kill baby Jesus
because he hated babies,
not for any homophobic reasons.
Let’s keep Joseph a carpenter
because they work with wood,
but let’s give him well-manicured nails.
Let’s have Mary teaching
the little Christ all about illusion—
walking on the water, turning it to wine,
and all you can do with a makeup brush.
Let’s say in 30 A.D. a girl
painted on a beard and began his ministry.