{"id":1360,"date":"2011-06-24T20:04:46","date_gmt":"2011-06-25T01:04:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/?p=1360"},"modified":"2026-02-26T13:54:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T19:54:32","slug":"ugly-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/2011\/06\/24\/ugly-body\/","title":{"rendered":"ugly body"},"content":{"rendered":"

orange over me<\/p>\n

upon still solemn sidewalk<\/p>\n

silent under black<\/p>\n

My breathing quickens.<\/p>\n

the truth is too tight:<\/p>\n

innocent men are confined<\/p>\n

tortured to death<\/p>\n

human-inflected trauma<\/p>\n

in the name of national security<\/p>\n

The cells of my eyes water what my heart holds.<\/p>\n

my love, Jesus, tortured by thorns, nails, cross<\/p>\n

laments stab while questions weigh on a helpless body<\/p>\n

centuries later the crowds still scream crucify<\/p>\n

My bones grind and stiffness sets into sore feet and knees.<\/p>\n

prayers are uttered into Mary’s ear, as she knows<\/p>\n

secrets of torture techniques told<\/p>\n

“feels like drowning two hundred times.”<\/p>\n

“hanging by wrists for hours, no sleep.”<\/p>\n

“humiliation.”<\/p>\n

“dogs.”<\/p>\n

“darkness.”<\/p>\n

“orders.”<\/p>\n

My body shudders with shame.<\/p>\n

trying to yell NO the over-used too old sign bares challenge:<\/p>\n

let it close, it needs to end.<\/p>\n

sorrow looks through cloth pores<\/p>\n

there, no dignity<\/p>\n

here,\u00a0 fashions rush by wasting fast food, texting into cellular phones<\/p>\n

ignoring the pain of the ugly orange body<\/p>\n

I don’t understand.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yesterday,\u00a0 June 23, \u00a0I vigiled with a few other members of Witness Against Torture<\/a>\u00a0 on a sidewalk at a busy intersection in Chicago.\u00a0\u00a0 I wore an orange jumpsuit and a black hood like the men who are imprisoned at Guantanamo.\u00a0 (I am the second person from the left in the photo above.)\u00a0 I stood as a reminder of what tax dollars still pay for.\u00a0 While I prayed in solidarity for all who suffer because of torture, others answered questions.\u00a0 And, at the same time, 15 protesters were arrested in Washington DC for disrupting the discussion on the defense bill in the House of Representatives<\/a>. Today, the day after I had the intense experience of wearing that ugly outfit, Guantanamo is still open. I will never be the same because of what I felt inside that hood.\u00a0 My prayer and work for justice has deepened.<\/p>\n

May God bless all our bodies. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"orange over me upon still solemn sidewalk silent under black My breathing quickens. the truth is too tight: innocent men are confined tortured to death human-inflected trauma in the name of national security The cells of my eyes water what my heart holds. my love, Jesus, tortured by thorns, nails, cross laments stab while questions...","protected":false},"author":4071079,"featured_media":1361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[115341],"tags":[7646769,72541,370,59605978,59605979,39433,68226,59605977,59605976],"series":[698756626],"class_list":["post-1360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-equity-and-justice-equity-and-justice","tag-close-guantanamo-bay","tag-guantanamo","tag-humanity","tag-nun-poetry","tag-sister-poetry","tag-torture","tag-vigil","tag-witness-against-torture-vigil-in-chicago","tag-wtness-against-torture","series-messy-jesus-business"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/100_1615-scaled.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/wp-content\/plugins\/seriously-simple-podcasting\/assets\/images\/no-album-art.png","download_link":"","player_link":"","audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"stitcher":{"key":"stitcher","url":"","label":"Stitcher","class":"stitcher","icon":"stitcher.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/customwordpresssites.com\/mjb\/feed\/podcast\/messy-jesus-business","embedCode":"

ugly body<\/a><\/blockquote>