I grew up surrounded by Roman Catholics the way tomatoes grow up surrounded by cages
And when I heard the word “sinner” it was a story about humanity,
a vine finding a trellis,
the way we all move in the wrong ways and towards the wrong things
And sometimes even get it right.
A story about all the things we could be,
the way when I say “sorry,” a black-eyed Susan opens herself.
A story of a thing we share that is red and bleeding and full of seeds.
And I like to hear you use it to tell me to go fuck myself.
***
Paige Becker is a contracts attorney who finds herself scribbling poems in the margins of her legal pads. She received a B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and a J.D. from the University of Michigan. She currently resides in Ohio.
***
image: Marvin Shackelford
Rejection Letters 