My body is not a temple,
and my mouth not meant to praise.
I ate the forbidden fruit;
in my Sunday best,
tasting the bitter juice
on my tongue while being reborn
in the glory of God’s plan.

Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve

but there’s no place for girls like me in heaven.
I’m not strong enough to rebuke the Devil,
to be cleansed of impurity.
I pray to be made normal,
for Jesus to lay healing hands
on my sick mind.
No longer a prisoner of my thoughts.

Repent
Repent
Repent

I’ve mastered deception,
letting boys kiss my neck
with lips that feel like church.
I touch the right spots,
make the proper sounds,
if I close my eyes tight I can drift away.
The Lord’s will be done.

Lies
Lies
Lies

I’m left with boiling blood
that reeks of self-loathing.
And I hate god,
for declaring me an abomination
because I will never serve my husband,
and dream of loving a girl
that doesn’t make my skin crawl.

I will be free
I will be free
I will be free

I am not ashamed.
And I am not afraid to die,
bathed in the sin of my sexuality;
for any deity worth worship
will not close the gates to paradise
because of how I’m made.
I am worthy.

My body is not a temple,
but it will be reclaimed.

-K.M.

Your eyes laugh
     as loud as
           Your love,
                                                           ­        So I can't
                                                           ­              hear anything
                                                        ­                        else.
                                   ­                                                                 ­ I'm deaf.

Your whispers overcome
     screaming colours, slogans, labels.
                                                         ­             
                                                   ­                 Worthless, hopeless,
                                                       ­                   impossible, hurting,
                                                        ­                        fallen, broken.

"Courage, dear heart",
       You only ever expected me.

                                    

                    ­                Everything beautiful I ever saw,
                               *was preparation for the beauty of You.

I’ve never met someone
Who could breathe life into me
And take my breath away
At the same exact time
Then I met you

TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.