“Sister Barbara”
Parochial school perfection.
Wrapped up in a purplish woolen turtleneck.
Curly salt and pepper hair.
Regimented lessons.
Led by tanned opaque pantyhose and a chalked skirt.
Liberal sister preached dictatorial discipline.
She had a method, a plan.
Eyes square glossy crazy.
Fire and brimstone resided there.
Only to be outdone by the calls to her personal novena:
The voice of Karen Carpenter over and over, nine times over.
Terrible toxic turntable attempted to indoctrinate fresh minds and hearts.
The charms of the devil wrapped in 70’s pop.
Sister Barbara went into a fervor and looked a beatific bully.
Sanely even?
If it were not for the counterweight rage that followed.
Eyes square glossy crazy,
wrapped up in the desire to expunge menial sins within children.
Textbooks tossed at Pickles Cameron.
Wooden tablet desks upended at will.
Jesus at the temple chasing away money-changers.
Succulent purpose, guided by conviction in moral right.
She was touched by the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Reformed.
Guilted.
Defined.
Even now, when I hear a Carpenters song,
I look over my shoulder for a flying textbook.
However, to this day, I haven’t seen any aged women with eyes square glossy crazy.
Amen.
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Published by Christopher Hickey
Welcome to my effort. Yes, as a great procrastinator, it requires great effort to stay focused on something productive that matters to me. I’ll find any old excuse to traipse from project to project, and I rarely end up at the place I started. I find this maddening, and exhaustive. So it is with high hopes, and a greater grasp of self-awareness, that I embark upon staying the course so to speak.
I enjoy writing. Be it blogs, fiction, poetry, etc. I love the craft and the act of creation, the art in and of itself, for it’s own sake and end. I am happy to be able to do it.
Some stats:
Born: March 1974
Education:
St.Francis de Sales, Charlestown MA
Don Bosco Technical High School, Boston MA
University of Massachusetts at Lowell, Lowell MA
Bunker Hill Community College, Charlestown MA
DePaul University, Chicago, IL
North Virginia Community College, Arlington VA
Harvard Extension School, Cambridge MA
Place of residence: Somewhere in the land of metro Boston. It’s vaguely familiar and becoming home more and more by the day, but when you come from “The Town” all else fails by comparison.
Favorite Color: I’m partial to all forms of blue.
Favorite Author: c’mon! don’t expect me to answer that, there are too many.
I enjoy memories of playing 80’s Atari better than playing any advanced gaming system that exists today.
Some day:
Hope to be recognized for my paper clip collection. As well as my 27 rejected applications to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailiey Clown college.
View all posts by Christopher Hickey
She sounds a lot like Sister Desideria, who I NEVER had. But slightly OCD + Catholic school = childhood conscience problems. All those lies and unkind thoughts. For a not so bad kid, I felt pretty guilty, I bet when I was 7 years old. However, I did have Sister Mary Francis Louise, who was great fun, and was also obsessed with grammar and writing, and would teach it regularly for hours on end. I was probably one of the few kids who loved it, and let me tell you, can I diagram a sentence!!