The fingernail moon scratching
an itch above me.
The bile coming up in my throat.
Her voice calling to me,
calling me back into my body,
not the same body,
if it’s even a body at all.
We kneel
in the pew
in desperation
wonder how we might
make it out alive,
as if we could,
as if there is anything beyond
this temple
this body
this Judas
from which she was plucked in shame:
it must have been
a devil inside me.