the shroud of Turin

resurrection
transforming the body into light
imprints linen like a photographic negative

at least, that's the story





photography
to assure possession, perpetual presence
but imprinting loss
the moment when the subject is changed


here's another story:
a photo of a photo
a scan of a photo of the photo
a screening of a scan of a photo of a photo
a "lettura" or lecture on a photo
a reading of a photo


a linen sample, on which to run carbon-14 dating tests
if it's old enough, does that prove "authenticity"?

light as the author, or a paintbrush

how large a sampling is needed
to test the weavings of its meanings?

new tests are now being done

neither the believers nor the doubters are satisfied

"la beauté est dans le route"
"Beauty is in the street"
(Baudelaire)



seeing this face we face
the faces of all of the representations
(not just the resurrection) of Jesus

all layered in the linen

Christ as blond and blue-eyed
Christ as a Semite
Christ as Black


also viewing all this
with the memory
of Walter Benjamin's and Roland Barthes' faces
and fates

in mind

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