The Word on Mary

On reading of the shadow of the Virgin Mary appearing on the bathroom

floor of an auto parts store in the border town of Progreso, Texas.

At the Vatican, they’re holding high level

meetings, staying up late, worrying.

They know she’s at it again. The Virgin

Mary’s one gal who’s not gonna stay

at the Vatican Holiday Inn,

mints on the pillows, sanitary

banner across the can. The Vatican

knows the Virgin’s into kitsch,

the stuff that takes faith. I mean, Christ,

look at the mess she made at Lourdes,

the Virgin Mary night lights, snow

globes, bottle openers. But Jesus,

not again. Next time it’ll be a cathedral

built out of popsicle sticks, juice cans,

the tops of cereal boxes. But even

the Vatican can’t stop them from coming.

Around Progreso, they know

the Virgin’s pissed about those

box car crossings, Jésus and Maria dying

in the summer heat. The Virgin knows man

doesn’t live by bread alone,

that it takes more than a prayer

to cross the border. You have to

crouch down, lay low, change your-

self into a shadow. Around Progreso

they know: the Virgin Mary’s

seen some shit.

Desiree Hellegers is affiliated faculty with the Collective for Social and Environmental Justice at Washington State University Vancouver; coordinator (with Julian Ankney, Nimiipuu) of WSU Vancouver’s new ITECK learning garden; co-creator (with Roben White, Lakota-Cheyenne) of The Thin Green Line is People History Project and a member/producer with the Old Mole Variety Hour on Portland’s KBOO Radio. Their web series “How I Learned to Breathe Thru the Apocalypse” is airing on Portland’s Open Signal Cable TV. More information on their work can be found at https://labs.wsu.edu/desiree-hellegers/