infidel

A Poem

Photo by Jr Korpa on Unsplash

maybe it would have been
alright
if I had quietly left

placed the sacred text in a drawer
staged the departure like an accident

on the road
an itinerant who knows what faithful words
find belonging in your confusing hearts

not like this
pages torn out and flying
on their temporary wings
under the twilight sky

standing my ground
pages drenched in
the clammy sweat of my hands
body incorrigible
shoving away her shame

the imam says
there are more women
in hell than men
it makes me wonder
where we are now.