Corporeal Soul by Rabeya Jalil. Image Courtesy: ArtChowk Gallery
Maria lights her Lucky Strikes
With matches stolen from the sacristy.
I go for the wine she says
I go for my father.
But it’s the plodding love of a mother
that keeps her toying with her crucifix;
asking for forgiveness.
The gospels resurrect defiance in her heart.
She kneels for all the boys
she says, it makes her feel like God.
I’ve more sins than they have saints
She laughs, and prays her hand to her mouth.
In the name of Christ, she mutters
in the name of Christ let me go.
~Phoebe Stuckes
Phoebe Stuckes studies at Goldsmiths. She has been a winner of the Foyle Young Poets award four times and was a Barbican Young Poet. She has performed at the Southbank Centre, the Poetry Cafe and Ledbury Poetry Festival. Her poetry has been published in The Cadaverine and Ink Sweat & Tears and is soon to be published in Rising.
