Confessional

by Aurea Day

 

show me the ledger of transgressions that I’ve authored
  confessed    but have not been forgiven for according
to the man that tells me my safety is sinful    why does
he possess a divine capacity we are not allowed to access?

               when you walk past a mirror do you imagine it’s
                   a portal    a way for god to keep an eye on you?
               I wonder when I stopped pretending there was
               always a camera watching me    the guilt we hold

                              in our shoulders in our hands    it coats our skin
                              like syrup be sweet with me and stand in the
                              rain for however long it takes    you and I can
                              baptize each other    new believer I’ll teach you

               what it’s like to feel clean again    what it’s like to
               pray    shall we learn to murmur our own names
               in worship?   soft-spoken saint    hard-hearted
               sinner of the worst breed    we can make some

new thing our own    if I bend to drag the wet cloth
   across your feet could we be disciples?    what I’m
trying to tell you is    I would remake the world if it
meant we could stay here in the shower together

 

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