Poem for Friday and Longwood Conservatory

sometimes I wonder
By Kaitlin Hardy Shetler

sometimes I wonder
if Mary breastfed Jesus.
if she cried out when he bit her
or if she sobbed when he would not latch.

and sometimes I wonder
if this is all too vulgar
to ask in a church
full of men
without milk stains on their shirts
or coconut oil on their breasts
preaching from pulpits off limits to the Mother of God.

but then i think of feeding Jesus,
birthing Jesus,
the expulsion of blood
and smell of sweat,
the salt of a mother’s tears
onto the soft head of the Salt of the Earth,
feeling lonely
and tired
hungry
annoyed
overwhelmed
loving

and i think,
if the vulgarity of birth is not
honestly preached
by men who carry power but not burden,
who carry privilege but not labor,
who carry authority but not submission,
then it should not be preached at all.

because the real scandal of the Birth of God
lies in the cracked nipples of a
14 year old
and not in the sermons of ministers
who say women
are too delicate
to lead.

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This will be quick because I have lots of chores to get done before I go see Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker on Friday, then go pick up younger son and his girlfriend from the airport right afterward! Paul worked from home because the van was (and is) still at the dealer getting various things repaired, and I needed the car for my semiannual dental torture session I mean cleaning. Afterward I went out for hot chocolate, which is just what the dentist ordered, and did a Pokemon raid at Starbucks. J.K. Rowling has made me so furious I'm sick.

I didn't watch the debate -- I don't expect anything on that stage to change the order in which I'd choose the people there and two who weren't invited but should have been. Instead we watched the recent BBC A Christmas Carol with Guy Pearce, which made major changes, not all good, though they gave Mary Cratchit some agency and Scrooge a very dark backstory that undercut the worst of the usual anti-Semitic stereotypes. Here are some of Longwood Gardens conservatory's seasonal plants and holiday decorations: