Why?
this is the question you keep asking me
and no matter how I try
I simply cannot offer
a simple answer;

life is complicated,
and so is the answer
to your question:

I slept with your brother
because I found him attractive and attracted
and because you didn't tell me today that you love me
and this made me feel insecure and angry
and I don't like to express such feelings outright
because I was raised to be a nice girl
because I was raised to be Catholic
and Catholicism and guilt are nearly synonymous
because some pope many years ago
decreed it should be so,

so I think we can safely say
that my adulterous behavior
is actually the pope's fault.

Or

it might have been brought about
by too much sex and amorality on television
and in the movies
created by the weird west coast film industry
that doesn't care about family values
or church or patriotism or supporting our troops
and will stop at nothing to bend the hearts and minds
of otherwise well-intentioned and faithful wives
just for the sake of the almighty dollar.

Or

It may have been a unconscious effort on my part
to find comfort in an uncertain,
post 9-11 world;
to find security in human companionship
despite the dangers presented to all us Americans
by wrong-godded hate-mongering murderers from other countries
who threaten our very way of life -
in which case
you should remember that if you kill me for this,
the terrorists win.

Or

It might be possible
that I was horny
and that I lack any moral compass whatsoever.

But I'm pretty sure
it was the pope's fault.

12/21/2005

Author's Note: *

Posted on 06/19/2007
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