Magdalene – Poetry by Kate Koenig

Soft, weeping woman
without a starry crown
whose turquoise shift
carries no envy
nor the dewy pride
forged by incorruptibility,
lacking even former lust
of carnal worship

Dear steadfast servant molded
by velvet-tongued silk,
praised repentant bones,
and sun-swallowed redemption
O sweet prodigal creation,
cast down your gaze
from disciple and prophet
and wash away dirt with river stone

forsaken Mary,
perpetual petitioner,
we pray for absolution
from you our purgatorial
priestess without an altar
or so much as a wax candle
to light your effigy
in remembrance

no child carries
your name
a title you borrow
never to fully own
no child carries
your copper-plated image
no relic, no
rose teeth

forsaken Woman,
who bore the mistake
of flawed humanity
of being a Woman
amongst unconsecrated gods

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Kate Koenig is a queer writer and photographer currently living between Brooklyn, NY and Houston, TX. She is a current Creative Writing MFA candidate at The New School and earned her BA in English and History at the University of Pittsburgh. Find her on Twitter here.

For the first time in nearly five years, Vita Brevis is closed for submission. Read the full story here.