the day i bit my fingers a biblical red i found an excerpt from the Talmud;
a man becomes deathly ill with love for a woman
i can count the number of men my body trusts on one hand
the doctors say; he will have no cure until she engages in sexual intercourse with him
when i say my body i mean; i have bitten clean the skin linking mind and mine
the sages say: let him die, she may not have sexual intercourse with him
i call this; disassociation/the mind body duality
the doctors say; she should at least stand naked before him
i call this; writing a poem about moon on asphalt while he’s mid thrust
the sages say; let him die, she may not stand naked before him
i mean; i do not tell my mouth to give silence/resignation/permission but the story ends the same
the doctors say; she should converse with him behind a fence so he can derive some pleasure
i mean; an older man holds the door for me, names himself the last gentleman alive
the sages insisted; let him die, she may not converse with him from behind a fence
my mouth laughs/my mind does not get the joke
i call this; religious doctrine is better than any male ally
i call this; praying the most in months while walking home alone
what i mean is; if i met G-d would He make me uncomfortable?
i mean don’t take it personally some of my best friends are men and i have not named a finger for
them
understand? this is just how i keep myself safe/sane/how i get home ok
the way i raise finger to lip, say a prayer for peeled skin
and name all the bloodied ones for myself.
A recording of the author reading “And the Sages Said Let Him Die”:
Nesha Ruther is a poet hailing from Takoma Park, Maryland. She was a member of the 2015 DC Youth Slam Team and a 2016 YoungArts winner in spoken word. She currently attends the University of Wisconsin Madison as part of the tenth cohort of First Wave.
Featured image credit: Pixabay.com/PublicDomainPictures.
