Mary Grimm
What I Learned in Catholic School
Boys are priests, girls are nuns, they dress
in dark colors. God created the world only
once, the beasts and fishes rising like a fountain
each furry ear, each wide-open eye a testament.
Men are interested in breasts: reference Isabella,
Queen of Spain, her memory pressed into
a book in the school library donated by Mrs. W__.
Boys played on the boys' playground, girls
on the girls'. Falling down at recess, I learned
I must not go to sleep, don't let her sleep, my head
a drooping flower. Nuns can be violent: Sister
Etna, like the volcano. In spelling, don't be too smart.
Bio
Mary Grimm has had two books published, Left to Themselves (novel) and Stealing Time (story collection) – both by Random House. Currently, she is working on a dystopian novel about oldsters. She teaches fiction writing at Case Western Reserve University.