El hábito

(From the Sor Juana Series)

Was the habit your emerging self

Your most favorite subject position,

or your encloistered womanhood?

Was it a habit within a choice or a choice from a habit?

Was it mourning from sexuality or an embrace of love?

Was the arch over your head a crown, a halo or a cap,

a wish, a paper or your tiara of love?

Was your pen so long

that you could fly winged thoughts

or your feminism so thorough

that you needed a uniform?

Were you much of your friends

that you wrote their handcrafts,

that you crafted yur thoughts as theirs,

that you penned what would otherwise die?

Did you ever murder your thoughts in paper, and if so, how many murders did you commit?

Will you please agree to be one of my subject positions?