October 7 is a feast day of the Roman Catholic Church celebrating Our Lady of the Rosary. Traditionally, October is rosary month when the faithful are encouraged to pray the rosary.
There are 5 decades of the rosary where the following prayer is recited 50 times:
Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with Thee, Blessed are Thou amongst women and Blessed is the fruit of Thy womb Jesus
Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.
I originally didn’t draft this poem for what’s happened in the past 3 days with regards to the Las Vegas massacre. Since then, the nation is constantly reminded to pray and yet there remains no action in Congress. I wonder what is the significance of prayer when there is little evidence that prayer deters the likelihood of mass shootings happening again. I’d even bet tomorrow. It seems every mass shooting and every subsequent call for prayer only increase the number of deaths in the next mass shooting. I doubt our prayers are supposed to effect the rising occurrence because legislators can’t ethically regulate gun control. If at all, prayer has become a cheap excuse that praises inaction among legislators especially where prayer has become the very wall that those in authority choose to hide behind.
I suppose poetry is a form of prayer, so I offer a special kind of invocation here to anyone higher up who might be listening.
Mother Mary would slap me if She saw if She knew
or maybe the seething sensuality She witnesses every night
in my tiny studio merges with Her virtue
She hides in secrets
unlike wanton Lilith
forlorn by restraint
I pray She will come
She who has taught lessons
on succubus visits
Does She approve or turn Her head
when I bring a lover to this room?
I don’t believe She frowns
but gazes at me
with a slight smile cracked between Her lips
and Her hands alighted in prayer
Let Her stand at the altar of
passion and truth
while all beseech at Her feet
and hypocrisy drips from the lips
of those who pimp Her
on their sweatshop T-shirts
for their unborn campaign
Mary the Mother of God
God who would need a woman
to be born a man
The divine conception consensual
to choose
to bear God
where there is no freedom without choice
for as She uttered “Behold
I am the handmaid of the Lord
May it be done to me
according to your word”
Could She have said no?
No means no even when a 13-year-old girl
consents to a holy ghost
Must we trust the Aramaic Greek and Hebrew
when we have yet to discover Dead Sea scrolls
locked away as they defy men’s laws
with their mention of Mary
a silenced sexual being
who carried life without a man
but a God
The great controversy still rages among
popes cardinals bishops and priests
husbands boyfriends congressmen senators and presidents
men intimidated by women’s extraordinary ability to carry life
or simply refuse
See Mary most pure become whore for
the capitalist pimps
the Catholic pimps
the right-wing pimps
the hippy pimps
the Hollywood pimps
the gun-toting pimps
the pro-life pimps
Let us marry the whore
And be merry with the whore
She breeds not just God but jealousy
as women face their fate everyday
on their knees in the Garden of Gethsemane
and sweat like drops of blood
to nurture life
or not
Still, like Mary,
we rise like phoenix from our ashes
even after
multiple pregnancies childbirths abortions partners assaults forced sterilizations genital mutilations and manipulations
we rise through divine orgasm
with no purpose toward embryo
but simply praise to God
where Her holiness effaces guilt
while bestowing Pentecostal fire
on all Her daughters
Did our dear sweet Mother know
She would be at the mercy
of global serpents in
the great arena of
men’s fears?
The communications between La Virgen
and Cuauhtlatoatzin remain true and secret
through smiles and whispers
and kisses and roses between them
leaving behind the whispered name Coatlaxopeuh
The institution of rubble and stone
would rather obsess over virgin conception
when truly most truly
Joseph had no relations with Her until She bore a son
Her traitors have more power
than serpents ever imagined
where even serpents find it too easy to
tempt a celebrity clown who
holds all the nuclear codes
while She witnesses
the brutal assault of Her daughters through
fraudulent trade agreements guns
and the Global Gag Rule
Serpents no longer slither but are
bankrupt men in cloth of ivory white crimson and gold
who prey on the children of Eve in confessional booths
and force their forbidden fruit
Even the serpent in Eden gave Eve a chance to say no
The men in cloth lack contrition
and blame their appetites on the innocent
though impress it upon them
everyday after school:
Oh my God I am sorry for my sins and in choosing to sin failed to do good I have sinned against You and Your Church and I firmly intend with the help of Your Son to make up for my sins and to love as I should Amen
which they mutter with closed eyes
and Cardinal hands
on a small erection
that will not keep steady
Is anyone still praying
and for what?
Small pockets of peace
Small pockets of justice
Is our terror enough to beseech
our Divine Mother’s return?
She will not be having a second coming
Her apparitions scarce these days
America continues to wield its weapons
On my altar She simply smiles
applauding my power as I
crush serpents
between my legs –
Slicing Tomatoes 