The first time I sold my body
I couldn’t stop thinking
about the line on my stomach
I always tried to hide
laid bare for judgment
Sunday school lessons
about modesty
rules I never broke
or questioned
until I had children to feed
I prayed for my soul to
separate like a cardinal
and perch on the ceiling fan
to watch over me
to sing out a warning if he moved
to kill me
I guess it helped
that I already wanted to die
maybe he would do it for me
maybe I would make it home
and keep us from being homeless
again
I made it through the fear
and disgust and never discussed
the way my soul was a cardinal.
Julianne King is a poet based out of St. Louis, Missouri. She uses her life as a mother, actor, former sex worker, and mental health advocate to inspire and inform her worldview and poetry.