it could have been genuflections in a church
but there was no stained glass no pews
yet they knelt in a presence greater themselves
a silence a sanctuary on a field
now a battle wages using words that pelt like stones
that cannot comprehend
this sacred moment this most protected of all rights
to dissent to kneel to stand to risk it all
Sister Lou Ella Hickman has been an all-level teacher and a librarian. Presently she is a freelance writer and a spiritual director. Her poems and articles have been widely published in numerous magazines. One of her poems was published in the anthology After Shocks: Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events edited by Tom Lombardo. Her first book of poetry she: robed and wordless, published by Press 53, was released in the fall of 2015.