The Women Were There

By Dorina Opferman

The women were there at the foot
of the cross. The nails in his feet
and hands did not cause them
to close their eyes.

The women were there when the sun rose
the pinks, the oranges and yellows
contrasting the grays of his tomb.

Saint Phoebe took Paul’s words
and delivered them to the people. Words
passing the pink of her lips then fly
into the crowd.

The women were there: clutching
their babies, whose cries echoed on air,
with their hands rubbed raw
from scrubbing the dirt from their floors.

The women were there when when the first woman
sang at the first mass, early
in the day, the sun streaming through
the blue-greens in the stained glass windows.

Saint Phoebe is interceding/speaking
to and through us. Her dark hair draping
to her shoulders deep like the night sky.
Her brown hands outstretched towards us.
Saint Phoebe pray for us/transform us.

The first day the young girl sees a woman
proclaim the gospel, she sees herself:
the sandy brown of her curls, the darkness
of their eyes, her blue dress/the blue
in the woman’s blouse. The women
are always there.

Artist Statement

I am a writer. I express myself in free verse poetry. Women, the images of them in the Bible and on our spiritual journey as Catholics is important to me.

I have traveled the world and seen woman at the foot of the cross. Our participation has always and will always inspire. My creation is the connection of the women who are always there.

About the Artist

Dorina Opferman is the author of the chapbooks Leaving the Tree, Monkeyman press 2011, and Black History Month, Finishing Line Press 2016. Her work has appeared in Pittsburgh Poetry Review, Pittsburgh City Paper, Philadelphia Stories, several Voices in the Attic anthologies, and some other literary journals. She is the leader of Art and Environment as well as the think Tank for Overcoming Racism at her parish St Vincent's Church in Philadelphia. She resides there with her husband and 4 yr old daughter.