Artwork by Art AI Gallery
The Wages of Estrangement
In a rural Southern town I felt unwelcome
and alone. I fit the way a queer woman fits
in a hometown church: beloved anomaly, forgiven and accepted
when she sits, hides in Romans chapter 6, verse 23.
When I left I shifted / east to stand / in the City Beautiful, / community less so / amidst so much / sickness and unknowing. / I wanted to find the love / of a metropolis, / the utter belonging / of those like me / and like me / and like me / and like me / and like me. / But I found more / alienation, less held / and more holding / it in so the dirty / looks stop. I asked / my partner how / we find our congregation / our lasting place / and he said maybe / we have to leave / the South. / But how do you cleave / sinew / from the / bone? / If I leave, / the South / does not / leave me.
