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When I did this tile I wondered why we had to have this as part of the process. Of course the persons doing the stations originally had their reasons.  My wondering tinged with an impatience to finish the project, reminded me that even today the rituals of death and dying need to be completed.  Death slows down life momentarily.  Slowing down, taking time for life and reflection on it, is good in itself.

Station 13

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The tiles, images, poetry, and photographs are the property of the artist/poet.

Please ask permission for your personal use.

Body Taken Down From the Cross

When I worked with this tile the clay took over.  There was a sense of finality and acceptance.  The poem truely came out of the clay.

Death on the Cross

The heart of flesh

has done its work.

Earth and heaven join.

Time joins timeless.

Station 12- 

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The tiles, poems, photographs, and images are the property of the author/artist.  Contact her for information.

The nail in this tile is embedded in the clay and fired.  

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The tiles, images, photos, and poems are the property of the artist.  Please contact me for information.

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Station 11- Crucified

Father, forgive them,

all and each.

It is done.

Into your hands….

Peace.

The creation of this particular station was painful to me as the poem will reflect, perhaps because I have a long history of working with cloth.  The cloth here is clay, yet people often ask me if it is cloth.  In the tradition this station comes immediately

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This is the midway point for this witness to the journey of Jesus to crucifixion, who began by saying “I don’t want a God who ends up in the dirt” (See the First Fall), yet who chooses to continue the journey.  In this tile the heart is moving closer to the rocks of the earth, and to being claimed by the ground in burial.  There are stress marks in the clay and brokenness in the heart.

Station 9- Jesus Falls the Third Time

Your weakness grows more evident, Jesus.

You fall again.

The women of Jerusalem who cried for you–

wept– reached out– you thought of them,

not yourself. I will not abandon a God

who stumbles for all the right reasons.

We’re almost to the hill.

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The tiles, images, photos, and poetry are the property of the artist.  Contact her for information.

The heart in this tile is turned up and receptive to the women on Jesus’ journey, and it bears the dust of the life he had lived.

Station 8 – Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

I had to be there. It seemed unusually hot and dusty.

Maybe it was the pain and the anger I felt

around me and inside.

I brought my children.

There was no one to watch out for them.

Everyone was at the crucifixion spectacle,

and my children had seen violence from soldiers before.

With me at least, they could hold my hands

and I could comfort them against his pain.

I thought, “They are safe with me.”

Can I keep them safe in a world like this?

I remember what he said,

“Do not weep for me, but for yourselves

and for your children.” He loved us–

it was obvious from the first time we met him

when he played with the children

and listened to them and to me.

Now with all his suffering

we could see that his love for us

could not be washed away by pain–

though perhaps his deep regard

for us and for our children,

helped bring him to this road.

We didn’t stay long.

If I cannot keep the children safe at least I could

bring them home and comfort their hearts,

listen to them as Jesus did.

Maybe someday It will be enough.

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The tiles, poems, and photos are the property of the artist.  Contact me for information on use.

Halfway through the journey. Seven more stations, seven more tiles.  A weariness sets in.  I remember how difficult some days it became to complete the tile work.  Yet the journey and the work was worth it. 

Station 7 –

Jesus Falls a Second Time

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The tiles, images, photos, and poems are the property of the artist. 

KCB

This particular station points to the importance of women to the journey of Jesus.  Veronica is not a Biblical reference, but somehow this act of a woman is too important to be dismissed.  In this narrative she comes forth at the moment when Jesus needs her intervention, at that moment which gives scholars and Biblical interpreters much for discussion and debate.  The weight of dust is heavy here.

Station 6 — His Face Washed by Veronica

the crowd of friends and enemies,

those attracted by the spectacle,

and God, where was God…

“Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani.”

Then he saw a woman among

the faces moving in and out of focus.

She reached toward him

holding up both hands to keep her balance

stretching to reach his face

her eyes hidden

by the cloth she held up to him –　

cloth to absorb the sweat　

cloth to bring the comfort of a touch　

cloth to companion him on his journey.

Writers often talk about how the characters take over the story.  This happened to me as I worked with the clay in this case.  The hand would not get into proper proportion.  When I wrote the poem much later, I saw this large hand as an emotional statement.  When one is being assisted, the hand that helps appears out of proportion to what is happening around the actors.  God became visible for me in this act of Simon, despite all that is unknown about Simon and his motivations.

Station 5— Simon Compelled to Carry the Cross　

That hand, Jesus–

How big it must have looked to you,

a human hand stretched out

lifting your burden.

Hand of one unknown to you,

in the crowd of mixed intentions.

Compelled by love or virtue or

simply the rule of current law,

a hand interrupting the circle of violence.

In one small opportunity

in one large moment

the Hand of God.

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A reminder: the stations and the photographs as well as the poems are the property of the artist.  Contact her for information and permission to use.