Priestly Etchings

the procedure
with minimal scars
she relaxes her artistry

steady hand
she cuts away pain
with the etching needle

madonna in the clouds
holding a baby
she is just so fond of midwifery

their own childhood and their now
she dips in acid to eat away the lines
it just bites into the metal of savagery

several hundred impressions of group memory
she decorates the gun metal with priestly etchings
letting the acid bite lightly

she smokes it with
four beeswax tapers
applying the flame to darken the ground

washed with methylated spirits
she cleanses what time cannot
priestly etchings defiled by the church

degradation too great
zinc etching times are shorter
copper stands up

gun and bible
retracing their lines
and healing timelines

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist