Faith

by Steve Charles

“Why are women drawn
to the spiritual?”
Our gay priest asks
at the Wednesday Night
Bible Study.

“Oppression,
Carolyn says,
“Deprived of power,
“One must find another form.”

Then Mary Angela,
who adopted four children,
whose husband of 55 years
died of cancer
three weeks ago,
speaks softly in that sweet
northern Alabama accent:
“Because a woman has felt
a life flutter
inside her,
then die,
and no one believes her.”