by Sister Lou Ella Hickman, OVISS
for jill, preacher
the season of purple has returned
and you will preach
either giving up or taking on
and for forty days most who listen will
but what will you say to those
whose lent has been years of forty days
who so tired
have become shadows
yet those shadows are the ashes
crossed on ash wednesday foreheads . . .
instead of the proclamation
of giving up or taking on
perhaps you could speak for them—
the voiceless
those who have already taken on
perhaps you could speak up
for all the invisible
who must bear alone
their long and savage lent
Sister Lou Ella Hickman, OVISS is a former teacher and librarian whose writing appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies. Her first published book of poetry is entitled she: robed and wordless (Press 53, 2015) and her second, Writing the Stars (Press 53, 2024.) She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017 and in 2020. Using five poems from her first book, James Lee III composed “Chavah’s Daughters Speak” first performed at 92Y in New York City.
