To belong to a clutch of confirmed virgins
(But some of them too may have known The worst sin?)
All the eager brides of a polygamous
Lord, each a none to herself kneeling to his
Crotch-hard Cross + trying to justify its
Indelible groove scarring their hearts’ deserts.
Yet some of those hearts would shame Sister Dilys
Into viewing her well-honed ironies as
A facile if not cowardly surrender
To the contemptation to feel superior
(In highschool another Red girl once cursed her
– Who you tink you be? Actin superiyuh!)
To those nuns who glaringly had no talent
For voicing or facing inconvenient
Ideas challenging their trusting assumptions:
But that very blankness, Dilys soon saw, shone
With a guileless animal simplicity
(from “Raponani” . a verse novel by Brian Chan, 2023)
FARJOURNEY CARIBBEAN 