lay her softly in the soil, sisters softly and kindly, lay her down. dig where her tears have already made mud; lower her into the same earth her shouts rent into two— there’s nothing more sacred than a mother’s grief. and when you sing this story, use a drum. use a hundred. deafen heaven; make a nuisance, be a shrew. when you mourn this truth, tell it boldly—bear witness to the sins of neighbors and husbands and God. witness: it was Him. in his “infinite wisdom”, he gambled away the lives of innocents in the name of fun and ego. witness: her husband chose self-righteous moping over her. witness: god chose self-aggrandizing power over her. witness: she didn’t deserve this. they didn’t deserve this. no one deserves this. witness: deconversion. a fucking necessary deconversion. write her obituary in the blood of her babies—nail it to heaven’s gates. drip. drip. drip. the innocent blood and pray god slips and falls and dies from the mess he capriciously made. lay her gently in the ground, sisters and make a house out of her bones. decorate it with trinkets and spells, and curse those who call it sacrilege— there’s nothing more sacred than a woman’s pain. and in the middle of the night— while her husband and satan and god play non-consensual games lacking safe words and sanity— gather up your children, hide them away, and get ready to fight. here lies Job’s wife: may her spirit be a thorn in God’s side for eternity. may our spirits. amen.
3 Comments
1 more comment...No posts
Oh my! Biting and beautiful. And sadly, filled with excruciating truth. Thank you. I came across your writing, an accident and gift from the Universe.
Kaitlin, I have been so deeply affected by your work. I am a survivor of Sunday School in the 50's and Job was often held up as an example of piety. Obviously you know all about that. But somewhere, so many of us developed the trick of dissociation, or cognitive dissonance, to hide the truth of this story. I am writing a blog about my experience and would like to include your poem. I can link it to your page, of course. Would that be okay with you?