I cannot say that I am sane, though they will say I flamed in/sanity. To plan and pick a day to die, no guarantee of death. To find a wide expanse of green, soak your clothes in gasoline. To write a manifesto or no? A match or lighter? Walk along wide avenues, shuffle, look down, … More the lament of the man who burned alive
{from behind the bench: another one of the lamentations here. haven’t done one of these in a loooooong time. in case you haven’t read one of them before, or in awhile, it’s a series where I take the voices of people who never got to speak in the history books and imagine what they … More The Lament of Pheidippides
“One day a malefactor was to be executed on a gallows; but with a condition that if any woman, having nothing on but her shift, married the man under the gallows, his life was to be saved. This extraordinary privilege was claimed; a woman presented herself; and the marriage ceremony was performed.” ~The Interesting Narrative … More The Lamentation of the Gallows Bride
To give them what they want molds the bread and ruins the wine. Son, if you knew men and not what they should be, you would know that joy is not as necessary as the promise. … To give them what they need leavens the bread, lets the wine breath. Son, if you knew women … More Mary’s Lament at the Wedding
I sold him for silver and I did not curse the Word. I waited for the tenderness of his hand on my cheek before I set the wolves on the lamb, a poor shepherd indeed to the man who was mine. I kissed him like the frost does the hopeful bud in midwinter—so reluctant— … More The Lament of Judas Iscariot
Blame not the whore for loving what she wilt. I would give gold for plums in the dark midwinter. Do not expect to be loved. Desired, yes, always and in all places, wanted for what you had, not what you made with your hands. If I danced for them, I did not speak. Silence was … More Mary Magdalene’s Lament
Note: “Yosef” is the earlier, more accurate Hebrew pronunciation of the name “Joseph”. … The good Lord knows I am a simple man, Miryam; I took you for wife when you were too young to know sunlight is a blessing, rain more so and the earth is hard. I know how to make things strong … More Yosef’s Lament
Note: “Miryam” is the earlier, more accurate Hebrew pronunciation of the name “Mary”. … Before you, Yosef, I only knew the roughness of the white goat’s flank on my cheek. The mottled one bucked wild whenever it saw me come to milk, so your ginger beard was a surprise, like green things in the dessert. … More Miryam’s Lament
If I danced, it wasn’t because I wanted to please him. What happens when I use my limbs in that way isn’t something I can quite explain to those who use mere words to speak. If I knew grit and dirt once, I do know sweat and ill-gained jewels now. … If I move, I … More Salome’s Lament
They asked for my daughters. They smilingly offered cracked pomegranates when the market was done, asked for the sweet release only they could give. My girls grew quiet, scarlet-cheeked, tossed the insult back at them, ran alone through whipped streets, dust in the wind, home. They were no rotten jewels ill-formed, but permissions, whole and … More The Lament of Lot’s Wife
anna-christina betekhtin 