Magnificat
I sealed my fate with my yes—
soul sanctified, body broken
confluence overflowing
I am the Lord’s servant
I’m ceded, I’ve stopped being theirs
The name they dropped upon my face
With water, in the country church,
Is finished using now...
Golden Thread
Maybe I am just a golden thread
on God’s spindle,
tethered from within.
Herstory: A Proverbs 31 Woman
Burning the candle on both ends
she does not dream anymore
except of dishes and stitches so
it seems her work never ends...
Behind the Scenes Theodicy: Three Stories of Why It Happened
I. The angels stood guard like the hollyhocks
In my garden: swaying in the wind, yet
Immobile. A portal had opened, how they knew not...
Passed Over
Why should anyone die a sacrifice
when living blood flows in me
poured out and refreshed each moontide?
Birding at Lemon Bay
For weeks, I tried to spy a nesting pair
through a mounted white pipe;
peered at moss-padded sticks lodged
in the crown of a longleaf pine.
Hemorrhage
You are electric
waltzing aware of privilege
storing that excess
energy in masculine swagger
A Visual Diary
These grew and became works of art.
Reared and fostered by my own hands.
But these were not my literal children.
Glenmary Sister
Fresh out of high school, a novice in a shortened habit
scoured remote hollers, visited coal camps, argued scrip...
The Pastor Delivers a Box of Groceries on Christmas Eve
Hail, darling, full of grace
Half grown, half girl, all of eighteen
That night I made pilgrimage to your trailer
Pale, sweaty, stringy blonde hair
Framing your sapphire eyes.
The Last Stone
I will not cobble together
a defense of myself
with lines from your holy book.
Minimized Memoir
Luke secondhand remembers harshly / Overlooked Martha: upset, anxious, aggressive, / distracted, troubled, bothered, encumbered, / fretting, fussing, busy, missing...
Ancestor Alphabet
I see the shape of the Alef and the shape of the Lamed / I see the shape of the final Tzadi and the shape of the Hay / I see the shape of your Nose and the shape of your Hands
Conjuration, Of Poet-Prophets and their Translators
We are conjure women,
we who traverse portals opened by ancestral song,
we who dream the dreams and speak the tongues
of lands we have never seen.
“Eve’s Summons” and “Maryam’s Labor”
Maryam is giving birth
Her face is sweaty like a laborer,
like a marathon runner
God is her Doula massaging
the small of her back with a tennis ball
If Jesus Were Married
If Jesus were married
it would help explain why
he valued women higher than his contemporaries
and risked his life to go against church teachings