Following
His name followed
her around everywhere,
slipping out of well-meaning mouths,
tumbling forth from familiar faces, embarrassing friends
who knew better but made more of a habit of forgetting than
remembering she wanted nothing
to do with Him, but here He was as her aunt
passed the stuffing at Thanksgiving, each family holiday
reminding her He was the firstborn, her family’s favorite, Jesus
He was the older sibling who would never let her
forget Him, forget them:
her childhood crush
her high-schoo