Rubbed Raw

by Melissa Faith Talev

see us: kneeling rapt at her feet
heads buried in her lap, a generation apart
a lifetime between a brother and sister
forever reliving the religious ecstasy
the virgin birth.

mary

none other than the universal mother,
robed in robin's egg blue sadness-
the weep-color of never seeing her children grow up.
what color would she have worn if she had seen?

you were harder to love, a curly-haired boy grown into a hard man
drunk driving, breaking laws as you saw fit
spray painting on walls, stealing for fun.
and me, not much better, a curly-haired girl grown into a soft woman
egotistical, resplendent in her own bullshit
delighting only in being right, being smarter.

mary raised no golden children, no saviors of humanity
she was a good woman, the last one of her breed
those who she has borne are either dead or sucking the life from the living
as we sucked the life from her.

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