Aubade: Without Regret

by Shutta Crum

Image credit: Matthew Ball on Unsplash

you expected a penitent

kneeling at the altar of you

got, instead, a bawd

whose sin was to alter

your belief in your infallibility

who struck communion aside

who pushed your hands into her sex

intoning, Blessed be this—the blood of myself.

who said, Wash your own damn feet.

who strode through the dark chancel

of your hypocrisy, canceled her piety

lifted her skirt and confessed herself into the light

***

Shutta Crum

Shutta Crum is a Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation honoree poet (2024). Her poems have appeared in many journals in several countries including West Trade, Acumen, Calyx and Boulevard. A Pushcart nominee, she is the recipient of 8 Royal Palm Literary Awards (FL). Her chapbook When You Get Here won a gold RPLA. Her latest chapbook is Meet Me Out There (Kelsay Books). She publishes the monthly newsletter: The Wordsmith’s Playground. www.shutta.com