Perhaps I am Iconoclast, by ​Lizzie Ballagher

Monday Madonna, by Lorette C. Luzajic (Canada) 2025

Perhaps I am Iconoclast
 
Iconic—so overworked, that word.
And yet I cannot take my eyes off her:
Mary, pure and holy maid of Nazareth 
from two thousand years ago.
 
We halo her with angelwings, 
with golden crowns and diadems,
with doves of peace and blessing, 
with swans of faithfulness. 
 
Why do we so distance her?
Then we bury her in coffins full 
of wilted roses, weeping.
O, why should we half conceal her?
 
Brown eyes rest calmly on us.
They do not glance away or close.
Never besmirched is her blue attire.
She marks the heart of history,
 
the crossroads of all time when
one mighty beam—the Light—broke 
over us to bear a gravity far greater
yet less strong—the throng 
 
of churning humankind:
dying weight of all the world 
on one Son’s humble shoulders.
Once her young arms would lullaby Him
 
against the day when she 
would yearn for Him 
as He was taken, suffering for us.
So, please, gaze up again!
 
For here’s a truth: this icon is just
a teenage mother with a deeply loving heart,
with sleeves rolled back 
to serve us, every one.
 
As she cared for Him, she watches over us.
Search for her on meanest streets
where no flowers bloom to bless,
where no white birds shall rest.

Lizzie Ballagher 

One of the winners in Ireland’s 2024 Fingal Poetry Festival Competition and in 2022’s Poetry on the Lake, Lizzie Ballagher focuses on landscapes, both psychological and natural. She was a Pushcart nominee with Nine Muses Press in 2018. Having studied in England, Ireland, and the USA, she worked in education and publishing. Her poems have appeared in print and online in all corners of the English-speaking world. Find her blog at https://lizzieballagherpoetry.wordpress.com/