Breath & Shadow
2005 - Vol. 2, Issue 1
"Inside The Convent: 25 Questions"
written by
Lyralen Kaye
Why do I tell
Sister Ann Raymond
about my parents?
Why does she look at me
as if her veil might burn,
as if she might take up
some angelic sword?
Do the other nuns
know about me?
What do you call a girl
whose parents lock windows against her,
cars, hands, houses, hearts?
Why won't Ann Raymond
stop trying? Doesn't she know
you can't discipline
the darkness?
Can she really believe
that being here
will save me?
Why does she send Sister
Joy to my room?
Why does Joy tell me
about her quaalude beginnings,
her broken vow of chastity,
her hash pipe?
Why are her eyes
all the colors of the sea?
When Joy smokes hash
out her bedroom window
does she take off her habit? Where
does she put her crucifix?
Does the wind lift the hair
from her neck?
When Joy coaches the women's
softball team
why does she ask me
to come with her?
Why do I hold my body upright
on a white wall, shrug
as if it doesn't mean
anything?
When I walk barefoot
across the asphalt,
when the small sun
in my stomach begins
to heat my body
how many nuns are watching?
Why does Joy watch
my hands, why does she smile, why
does her body turn in her jeans, her skin
dark, her hips wide, her arms
whirling like windmills?
If Joy gives me tequila
should I drink it?
Will the tequila in Joy's hands
quiet the storm
in my stomach?
How thick are the convent walls?
Lyralen Kaye is a poet and actor who makes her way in and out of genres as if they were revolving doors. She has won and placed in the Boston Amazon Super Slam Finals, performed on the women's team, published in Calyx, Phoebe, Persona and other literary magazines. She is currently marketing a novel and acting in a play in Boston. In her spare time, she runs Another Country Productions, which produces SlamBoston, the 10 minute play slam dedicated to diverse voices in theater.