
Read my book, Good Friday 2000, for free.
Read more poems about faith or lack of faith.
Read poems about family.
![]() A few days ago, I came out to my mom as an agnostic. I thought it would be better if she learned it from me than from my book, which just came out, which I just sent her a copy of, which she has by now read. Her response so far? Silence. I'm not about to claim “admitting” agnosticism to your parents is as fraught as “admitting” homosexuality. But when your mom is from the Deep South, the Bible Belt, Alabama to be exact, the rejection and condemnation precipitated by your revelation can be extreme. (I realize the word “admit” has the wrong connotation. Sometimes words fail me. Or maybe I fail them.) Read my book, Good Friday 2000, for free. Read more poems about faith or lack of faith. Read poems about family.
2 Comments
My Heavenly Father by Dana Crum This story was published in Gumbo: An Anthology of African American Writing in 2002 and in 64 Magazine in 2000. ![]() It's the evening after I sinned against God, and the heat so bad it seem like somebody done wrapped a coat round my shoulders even though I don't need one. I start thinking about Hell. If I go there when I die, the Devil he gon' be waiting for me and he gon' poke me with that big pitchfork he got. I'm sitting on the steps of the porch, looking over at the houses across the street. Old people is out on their porches too, rocking in rocking chairs, fanning theyselves to keep cool. Every now and then one of 'em call across the street to somebody and ask how they doing. Them crickets done just started up their racket, and I'm thinking about what I did at church earlier today. That's when my grandma call me. "An-DRE!" she say, her voice getting high at the end. I put them quarters back in my pocket real fast like and look over my shoulder. "Mam?" |
Dana's Blog
Thanks for stopping by. I'm glad you could make it. Categories
All
Archives
May 2016
Favorite BlogsProse Wizard |