haiku retrospective ccxcvi

When I was a child, I thought that my friend's father genuflected to apologize for being late for church. When I was grown, a Catholic friend of mine said, “No, he was apologizing for being born.”

hardwood pews
latin prayers mingle
with the incense

I'm older than Vatican II.

My stepmother was a nun for 17 years. She left the church because she was disciplined for working with the Black Panthers to provide hot breakfast for Oakland ghetto children. A retired first grade teacher, she now works as a consultant to help schools teach English to the many California pupils who speak another language at home.

guns and rosaries
scrambled eggs bring a smile
to the child's face

1 May 2003