Acknowledgments
Contents
I.
After Reciting 333 Titles for The Virgin Mary, I Remember Only 4
In the Convent We Become Clouds
from Uterine Dogma
Saint Valentine’s Dinner with Nuns
Midnight Snack with Saint Agatha
There Were No Rules about Underwear
Confessions from an Apiary
Madonna after Vespers (Remix)
Lighting Candles to Patsy Cline
Wearing a Scarf of Recycled Sari Yarn, I Want Other Gods
Against the Rules, I’ve Added Honey to the Altar Bread
II.
The Girl with the Tiny Pocketknife
Feeding Stations of the Cross
Three Classes of Relics
Bonsai Nun
When the Priest Stays for Sunday Brunch
In the Shower, She Sees White Roses
Everything except Her Head
Sunday Afternoon, Waterboarding
III.
Apologia Pro Vita Mea
The Morning I Make Vows, the Space Shuttle Explodes
Pietà
Odors of Sanctity
The Fleet Admiral’s Daughter
You Died before I Sent a Card
Why She Would Take Off Her Shoes before Jumping from the Golden Gate Bridge
After the Abortion, Summer Visits Me in the Convent
Virgin Martyrs’ Chiffon Dessert
IV.
An Ex-Nun Resurrects the Dating God
We Color the White That Binds Us
Oratio Nocturna
I bring my newborn to the convent
“She Got Some Cute Little Lips on Her Wrist”
It’s Just Hypocrisy Needling Me
Six Ways to Sunday
Hollow Women
Via Negativa
Notes