when virginity meant an intact hymen
and i wanted to be on swim team
(which entailed tampons),
i supposed that i had lost
my perfection
at fourteen
in a pool bathroom with wet
concrete floors and blue
stalls.
when virginity meant no penises
having passed inside a vagina,
i supposed that i had lost
a childlike stupidity
in bed,
(ostensibly) in love,
at eighteen.
i am thirty-one now, and can't tell you
what virginity means.
only that i am glad saints
ursula and winifride
and lucia and mary
seem to have known something about it,
which might mean virginity
can be known something about.
and i wanted to be on swim team
(which entailed tampons),
i supposed that i had lost
my perfection
at fourteen
in a pool bathroom with wet
concrete floors and blue
stalls.
when virginity meant no penises
having passed inside a vagina,
i supposed that i had lost
a childlike stupidity
in bed,
(ostensibly) in love,
at eighteen.
i am thirty-one now, and can't tell you
what virginity means.
only that i am glad saints
ursula and winifride
and lucia and mary
seem to have known something about it,
which might mean virginity
can be known something about.
I am not sure this piece is appropriate for a Church website. I have no problem with explicit discussions of sexuality in a religious forum, but I think there needs to be some spiritual content as part of that. Sexuality can and should be spiritual, but this piece, in my personal opinion, devoid of any spirituality whatsoever. It comes across as what high school girls giggle about in their locker room and not a the kind of deeply thought, deeply felt poetry I would expect from St. Pauls Seattle, my Church of choice when I am in Seattle. You can do better than this!
ReplyDeleteLet me just counterbalance David's comment. I didn't take the poetry as locker room giggling at all. Throughout, it ponders a mystery of what an ideal means in practical terms. It's perfectly appropriate for an incarnational spiritual community like St. Paul's. And it's incredibly brave. I have a difficult time being that open in my writing, even though one of my mentors was considered one of the great "confessional poets" of our time.
ReplyDeleteYou go, girl.
let us begin with the song of songs.
ReplyDelete