Bricks

I was one made to stand on street corners.
I was one made to hold in small hands a currency I could not understand.

I was one made to deny unclean things.
I was one made to never falter in belief.

I was one made to love our God.
I was made to obey mother and Daddy.

I was one made to keep my head covered in the presence of men and the Lord.
I was one made to memorize cracks in sidewalks.

I was one made to hand the wicked the hope of eternal salvation.
I was one made to have God’s Holy Word thrown back in my face.

I was one made to suffer the spit of angry old women.
I was one made to cover my ears against their curses.

I was one made ever watchful for the Devil.
I was one made to witness the eternal presence of God.

I was one made of sin.
I was one made for the righteousness of persecution.

I was one made to deny worldly things.
I was one made to fear the realm of demons in the dark under my bed.

I was one made never to speak of my body.
I was one made vigilant in covering my body’s powerful seduction.

I was one made of weakness.
I was one made to touch that filthy place.

I was one made to writhe through star-filled summer nights.
I was one made to pray for a stern, long suffering husband.

I was one made to glory in all womanly pain.
I was one made in Eve's likeness.

I was one made to lie with a man at the age of twelve.
I was one made to secretly rejoice over the sweet miracle of his body in mine.

I was one made to seek out their bodies.
I was one made with a deep pit of emptiness.

I was one made to stand on street corners.
I was one made to wait for the currency I had grown to understand.

I was one made to cling to unclean things.
I was one made to crave the burn of sweet liquid salvation.

I am one made from Armageddon.
I am one made to whisper these small hard secrets.

Maureen Donatelli lives in Abbotsford, British Columbia where she received her BA in English from The University of the Fraser Valley in 2001. Besides all things poetic, Maureen enjoys photography and spending time with her children. Her poetry has appeared at vox poetica, OVS, Willows Wept Review, Eudaimonia Poetry Review, Yes, Poetry, Connotation Press, Adroit Journal and her work is forthcoming in The Stray Branch.