By Ishmael von Heidrick-Barnes
ENCOUNTERING IDOLS AT LAX (KPOP’S NCT 127)
For Greta —
Behind the door god’s
ninety-nine paths
Initiates
voluntarily shed coats
remove shoes
submit their inner selves
to the scrutiny of electromagnetic waves
The absolved
float down narrow corridors
through automatic doors
Pass into a portal
where ordinary lives
come face to face
with pixilated projections
of celestial deities
A sky-shattered moment
that presents supplicants
with the opportunity to reclaim
their human divinity