Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Recent weaves

A sample of swirling thoughts in the minds of little Adams and Eves - a Poem

The Father,
he showed us a few tricks
every once in a while.
He lifted our frocks
he played with our shorts
helping us with the little mittens, amidst
gentle whispers to stay warm.
Even helped tie our laces,
after it was over.

His fingers seemed to glide
and hustle. Darting, furtive.
Everywhere.
God, it was confusing.

He said he loved us
and sometimes kissed us.
He often played pretend with us,
and, once in a while,
fucked us.

Yes, it did hurt
it hurt very much.
We thought it was part of liturgy.
A ritual. Part of our Sunday afternoons.

The sermons would also say;
learn to notice that silver lining (in every day things)…
The good Father would say that too – lovingly
and often.
We managed to find our bright spots here too.

The immediate pain was only fleeting, white hot,
infinite, yet, contained in place (not time).
After that, you get used to it.
Kind of like being whipped,
after the initial tear in your skin,
the subsequent lashes
are just consolation.
A perverse kind of consolation,
that the familiar is back (the numbing, a helper).
And don’t we all huddle to the familiar?
Like the flocks towards that good Shepard.



From here:
One out of five alleged victims of clerical abuse have been girls or women, according to a 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and conducted by researchers at the John Jay School of Criminal Justice. But that disparity “may have less to do with the actual incidence of abuse than with the reluctance of women to come forward,” says Angela Bonavoglia, a Ms. contributor and author of the 2005 book
Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church. Bonavoglia believes the Church maintains a lingering blame-the-victim mentality toward girls and women. She has written that girls—particularly older ones—may be viewed with the biblical notion that they’re sexual temptresses—“little Eves”—responsible for enticing older men and consenting to “normal” relations. It’s much easier, then, for the Church’s male hierarchy to condemn the abuse of boys, since that’s seen as “homosexual behavior,” for which the Church offers blanket condemnation.

Sunil, 'Underwater', Sumi ink and charcoal on inkjet printed Strathmore paper, 9" X 12"

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