Laurie MacFayden, “when lust and prayer collide”

Author: Poetry Editor

May 17, 2011

This Tuesday, a poem from Laurie MacFayden’s White Shirt (Frontenac House), a finalist for this year’s Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Poetry.

when lust and prayer collide

once i dreamed of becoming medusa’s stylist
now all I want is for you, artemis, to be my mid-life crisis
i pretend to be the noble one hand clapping
when all the while it’s at your sweet, sweet ass
my clever tongue aches to be lapping
oh, lover, you can be the buddhist nun
if i can be your smoking gun

take me, quake me inside your godless, sleazy bars
and I will show you all my secret holy hunting scars
i’ll cleave to you in any sacred ritual you like
if you’ll ride me, drive me
on the back of your dharma bike

i’ll let you pull my (jealous) hair
if you’ll let me put my trembling fingers there
amazon armour rarely do I doff,
but for you i’ll gladly tear this pagan clothing off
we’ll quench and clench and spar and feast
we’ll scramble the directions and pray to the northeast

and when it all is said and done
oh, lover,
i’ll let you be the buddhist nun

——

After 30 years as a sports journalist, LAURIE MACFAYDEN left the news media in 2007 to focus on her own writing and visual arts projects. She lives in Edmonton, Alberta, and colours outside the lines at www.lauriemacfayden.com. Her writing has appeared in The New Quarterly literary magazine and DailyHaiku I: A Daily Shot of Zen. Her work has been performed at Edmonton’s annual Loud & Queer Cabaret, Exposure Queer Arts & Culture Festival, Acts of Pride, and Calgary’s Q the Arts Festival.White Shirt is her debut poetry collection.