Forgetting King James, Remembering an Old Woman In a Shoe

There was an old lady who

Lived in a shoe,

Suppose her name was Mary

But what if god chose wrong?

Impregnated

The wrong Mary

And too many times

Whose ladle went dry

And exercised a rather

Disdainful threat

On the lives of her

Miracles

On the lives of her own

And what if god chose wrong?

Gave her too strong an arm

And too rotten a memory

Had she their names in order?

What if Mary chose wrong?

What is meant by a

Buddhist or Sihk?

What if Mary only knew

there was no hell

When she didn’t

Burn

Would she grab

Her ladle more often

But less for stirring?

What if Mary, as

The mother of humanity,

Lined us up for the beatings

Before she knew there

Was no reckoning

Before she knew

There was no spoil

Before the other shoe could

Drop

This poem plays with the old folktale: “There was an Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe.” As the woman lives alone in her strange home, she is alone/unmarried. In this way, I compare her to the virgin mary as she has children without the aid of a husband. Referencing the abuse of her many children in the old tale, this poem toys with the idea of Mary, or the woman, being incorrectly chosen as a mother, and, in turn, abusing the human race with her angered, stringent nature. Along this same vein, I suggest another religion for “Mary,” one actually committed to karma for poor deeds and that she forget “King James,” as in the King James Bible of 1611.