Mary Magdalene in the Cave, Hugues Merle (1868)
SLUT: A Poem
Penitent Magdalene by Titian
I was a Virgin for a long time.
Perhaps you think
I mean
I took 21 years
To let a man Penetrate me
Measuring
My Worthiness
By the diminishing inches
Of his Cock?
No.
I mean a Virgin
In a language long forgotten:
Lost in the ashes
Of burned witches
Or in the silenced vows
Of Brides of Christ,
Whose names were erased
In canonical Genocide.
I was a Virgin.
A woman unto herself;
Whole; Unshackled; Owned by No One;
And in this way
We’ve always been Virgins--
Our women's wisdom,
Written in our Mothers' bosom,
Survived the translation migration
From page to pyre.
Observe your Holy Rights.
Do I deserve to be attacked,
Unwritten from history,
Because I fucked my way
Through the Zodiac?
Keep your righteous indignation.
Your taunts and jeers
Only urge my Vestal Reclamation
And the resurrection of my Erotic Innocence.
We. Are. Coming.
So here I stand:
Palms stretched, legs spread,
Re-Virginized once more,
While making love to the Sacred Whore.