Sister Sin

Amanda Connell

She came from a dust-covered land.

                                                               Scarlet lips drip noxious elixirs into young ears.  

                    Reviving oppressed areas of men’s brains,       

                                                                                          A flash of her smile was a cup of whiskey Jesse James’ first lover,    

                                                            then to many a brother of the James-Younger gang.

                        Who else passed among them schemes?

                                                                    Hunting like the gold miner for precious rock.   

Men’s loins and brains inflamed, left to lie baking in the sun.

                                                                                           Maggots crawling out of men’s faces,

            after Sister Sin paid them a visit.

                                                                             Would she rot her sisters’ flesh?

           Left to become the dust covering the land?

                                                                  One by one men crumbled, maggots fleeing dried flesh.                            Skin crack and peel, flesh and muscle show.            

                                               Flesh feeding the land and creatures,          

until only boney tumbleweeds blew in wind.

                                                                                        Sister Sin called out,

                     “To dust you returned. No more will your weakness harm this land.”

 Curiosity struck the women and they drew nearer,

                                                                          Emaciated minds in need of sustenance.

            Being welcomed to digest teachings.

                                                                                   Sister Sin fed their appetite,

            Took hands to cleanse and prepare earth.

                                                                                    As the years passed gardens bloomed. Fighting and violence decreased abundant harvest shared.

                                                              Minds filled by the elixir of whiskey, now fill their bellies.

The women’s livelihood increasing more than gold.

                                                                      Purpose filling the women as the river began to flow.

                        The dusty and dry land masked by green.