My body is a church that many people visit
In and out, in and out
But it is not me that they worship
They only see their own hunger reflected back at
them
From empty eyes
And feel my pleasure when they hear me scream
The singing of the choir, little boys and little girls
crying out to their God, ‘Oh God!’
I’m screaming out in pain
But he can’t hear me
I can’t hear me
All we can hear are the sounds of sticky bodies and
Release
His body is silhouetted in the flickering
Candles that are not candles
Stained glass windows twinkle rainbows outside
He thrusts forward.
Again and again.
And again
He is not like the last
Or maybe he is
He is lost
He is broken
A lamb
Forlorn
I clutch at this, at him
Nails sliding
Further in
They are all lost
I hold myself out for them
For the sore, the heaving
All for –
Nothing
He forces me open, pushing
Opening me up for
Forgiveness
Pulling from me, myself
“This is my body”
Luke 22:19
“Remember me”
The blood of the covenant spills on to the floor
I pull up my jeans
I can still feel him running down my legs
He leaves me at the train station
I am left crying in a bathroom stall
40p to get in to a bathroom stall
I don’t even need to shit
Shit.
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Woroni, Woroni Radio and Woroni TV are created, edited, published, printed and distributed. We pay our respects to Elders past and present. We acknowledge that the name Woroni was taken from the Wadi Wadi Nation without permission, and we are striving to do better for future reconciliation.