Mary and Martha's Fried Chicken
© 1996 Ginger Henry Geyer
glazed porcelain, in 6 parts
3" x 11 ¼" x 13 ¼"
Whenever I've studied Mary and Martha in women’s groups, there seems to be a overly concerted effort to equalize Martha's busyness with Mary's sensitivity, to show that their characteristics are complementary. Yet I can't seem to shake my bias toward Mary, the one who just sat down and listened. Martha's always reminded me of that church lady who was compulsively doing good works but looked like she was sucking on a lemon the whole time.
True hospitality--how do we balance the creature comforts with the time and focus it takes to offer an open heart to one another? This piece harkens back to the hospitality served at my own family's Sunday dinners. We were in the poultry industry, so it was usually fried chicken. Thus, at this imagined family gathering Mary and Martha are the chefs and servers.
Unlike most of my work, this began with the poem rather than the ceramic component. The first half of it sort of "arrived" several years ago. The speaker is Jesus, in a non-Biblical yet probable dinnertime visit to Mary and Martha, back home in Arkansas. The rest of the poem came later as I was studying burnt offerings (note the condition of the chicken...maybe old Martha wasn't minding the stove after all). The poem is carved on the back of the "iron" skillet like my Grandmother used. It references Leviticus 9:21, Luke 10:42 and Malachi 4:2.
Martha, get out of that apron
Quit nagging in that pedantic tone
and get thee over here on thy knees.
And Mary, move over. Make room.
Love, pure, unvilified, chicken-fried,
Is here for a moment of kairos.
You'll remember this every time you smell heated oil.
Don't let it slip away for toiling over the stove,
I already know all your menus,
Your burnt offerings of breasts and thighs
Sheltered by a splatter screen.
No flash in the pan or Eat All You Can,
Mary hath already chosen the better part.
Crispy Martha, is there healing in your chicken wings?
You envy her juicy legs,
while the kids pair off in the upper room
with pulley bones.