St. Agnes and Me

by Mish (Eileen) Murphy


The nuns said St Agnes
was so “pure.”
I thought they meant

how St. Agnes wore
a thin linen nightgown
when taking a bath
so (technically speaking)
she was
never naked.

The wear-a-dress-in-the-bath
thing
is no big deal.
Silly, yes, but if that’s all
it takes to be “pure”—
I thought—
problem solved.

Every nun in middle school
had preached on and on
about “remaining ‘pure.’”
But I swear, for ages,

I adored St. Agnes
and had no idea
that “stay pure”
was nun-speak
for “don’t have premarital sex.”

But the nuns couldn’t say
the words “premarital sex”—
their windpipes closed up
when they tried.

Yes, one time, brave Sister Margaret
did get as far as the syllable “pre-”,
but then couldn’t spit
the word “marital” from her mouth.

As for the word “sex,”
forget it.


* * * * *

Mish (Eileen) Murphy is Assistant Poetry Editor for Cultural Daily (www.CulturalDaily.com). She teaches English/literature online at Polk State College, Lakeland, Florida. A Pushcart nominee, she has published two poetry collections—Fortune Written on Wet Grass (2019) and Sex & Ketchup (2021)—and a poetry chapbook, Evil Me (2020). Mish graduated with a B.A. from New College, Sarasota, in French /Russian, and Columbia College of Chicago, in Fiction Writing/Teaching of Writing. She is also an award-winning digital artist, photographer, and book designer.