A Shameful Succession
by Vero Lecocq
Pontius Pilate
washed his hands
to scrub away the guilt
of murdering our Lord.
It drove Macbeth's wife mad
to see the stains
of regicide
that wouldn't leave
her fingers.
Anxiously
I turn the faucet on
hoping to remove
each crumb
each smell
the sauce that lingers
underneath my fingernails.
And I wonder
as I try desperately to purify
whether Eve and Adam
as they hid from God in shame
knelt by the river
desperately
and tried to lose
the sweet and heavy stickiness
of the first forbidden fruit.
by Vero Lecocq
Pontius Pilate
washed his hands
to scrub away the guilt
of murdering our Lord.
It drove Macbeth's wife mad
to see the stains
of regicide
that wouldn't leave
her fingers.
Anxiously
I turn the faucet on
hoping to remove
each crumb
each smell
the sauce that lingers
underneath my fingernails.
And I wonder
as I try desperately to purify
whether Eve and Adam
as they hid from God in shame
knelt by the river
desperately
and tried to lose
the sweet and heavy stickiness
of the first forbidden fruit.