The Canaanite Woman

Poems

Benjamin Bagocius

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781666732511, 9781666726312
• eBook ISBN: 9781666726329
• Topic: Literatura
• Subtopic: Poesía religiosa

The Canaanite woman in both Matthew's and Mark's Gospels asks Jesus to heal her daughter from so-called demon possession, what today we might understand as a psychological, genetic, physical, or emotional disorder. Matthew and Mark give the Canaanite woman a handful of verses before moving on to Jesus's next encounter. The Canaanite Woman pauses with her for considerably longer. This woman emerges as a prophet when we notice both her inborn and hard-won wisdom, her strength and resilience as a mother of a child with a complex disorder in a culture of systemic ableism. The Canaanite woman is not an ancient visionary from an outdated story. She is your server at the restaurant. Your business partner. She is the woman lifting weights beside you in the gym, the woman you pass in the grocery store aisle. She might be a man, for men, too, are often primary caretakers of children with rare and complicated disabilities. Maybe you are the Canaanite woman. Or will be. The Canaanite woman has much to teach us about the mystery of love. Let's follow her. She'll lead us to other quiet visionaries along the way, including ones we often pass by: the visionary within the marginalized; the visionary within ourselves.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgements
• Nevertheless, She Persisted
• The Canaanite Woman and her Daughter Refine Jesus’s Taste
• The Canaanite Woman Helps Jesus Climb Higher Up the Mountain
• The Canaanite Woman Heals Jesus
• Daily Walk
• The Canaanite Woman’s Bookshelf
• Street Market
• Curling Iron
• The Canaanite Woman as a Girl
• Street Vendors Do Not Know the Canaanite Woman Has Saved Their Wares from Destruction
• Clement, the Dog
• Bernice Walks Clement
• Bernice Shares Why She Pulls the Wagon
• The Bazaar
• Bernice Cannot Understand the World’s Madness
• Shach Sets Up His Board for the Illat Kalbeμ Tournament
• The Canaanite Woman Gets One Breath
• Bernice Will Never Understand the World’s Madness
• Bernice Makes Sure I know It’s Dinnertime
• Bernice Loves, or The Aunt Checks Instagram
• THE FAMILY and I Walk out of the Mall
• The Aunt Has a Moment of Understanding God
• Bernice Always Walks Beside Her Mom. She Won’t Walk with Anyone Else
• The Family Takes a Trip to the Lighthouse
• Uncle Esh Makes a Surprise Visit
• The Family Never Made it to the Lighthouse
• We all Resurrect
• Disability Services I
• Disability Services II
• Writing with Bernice
• The Aunt Receives a Thank You Card in the Mail
• The Aunt Remembers the Outdoor Concert
• The Aunt Hears Bernice’s Laughter
• The Tutor Logs a Missed Appointment
• Odd Lean
• Daisies in a Jar
• Bernice Fishing
• Shach Doesn’t Want Anything FOR HIS Birthday
• Bernice Triumphs in the Kitchen
• The Canaanite Woman Sees Bernice Triumph in the Kitchen
• Bernice’s Aunt Has a Demon
• The Family Leaves the Beach a Day Early
• The Canaanite Woman Sees a Rainbow
• The Canaanite Young Woman Goes to College
• The Canaanite Woman’s Seventh Book
• Mom, Mom
• Matthew AND MARK Only Got Part of It
• The Aunt’s Arrival
• The Canaanite Woman Catches Her Breath
• The Living Room is Dark, Empty, and Quiet
• The Hospital Policemen
• The Canaanite Woman Does Mountain Pose
• Queen Mother
• Bernice Visits Her Grandparents
• Rainbow Talk Time
• Shach’s Rainbow Talk Time
• Bernice Goes to Bed
• The Canaanite Woman Looks Out the Kitchen Window at Night. She Sees Herself Illuminating
• The Canaanite Woman Sits Atop the Boulder
• Jesus’s Chief of Staff Emails the Canaanite Woman
• The Canaanite Woman Reads the Email
• Notes