Poem: Examination of Conscience

October 14, 2012 by Sally Thomas

Examination of Conscience

Yes, I've done that. Yes, I've done that, too.
In fact, if we review the Deadly Sins,
We see my name on them, their name on me:
Wrath, Greed, Pride, Sloth, Lust, and Gluttony.
And Envy. I wish now that I were you,
Strange to myself. Each examen begins
With yes, as if I'd come to claim my own
Cold body on its slab. Yes, yes, I know me.
That pink wrinkle of a scar on my right knee
Gives me away, an error on my skin's
Clean record, one lie I told when I was nine.
Just skinned, that's all. These Band-aids? Nothing . . . Only
The mouth beneath them told the truer story.
I peeled them off me, one by painful one.

~ Sally Thomas

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