Burchard of Worms

'Have you had sex with your wife on a Sunday?' You shall do penance for four days on bread and water.'

'Have you had sex with your wife or with another woman from behind doggy style? If you have done this, you shall do penance for ten days on bread and water.'

'Have you tasted your husband's semen in the hope that because of your diabolical deed he might burn the more with love for you? If you have done this, you should do penance for seven years on the legitimate holy days.'


...Excerpts from History Laid Bare by Richard Zacks, in turn extracted from the early 11thC penitential of Burchard of Worms.

dawn two thousand and eight

typing tip-toes round colour-blind lasagne party debris
ambiguous non-vegan limbs in the 6 o'clock lack of sunlight
silhouettes of sons and daughters
draped sheets of skin and glowing bones
ketchup splattered haribo bondage paraphernalia
plastic wristbands and rubber jewellery
cheap slinks that don’t go clink
just a sound that can't be written
non-biodegradable hydrocarbons
neon and un-natural ring
finger you because you are you are
extinct unicorns with dildos on their foreheads
like in a porn movie i once lost and found
boys and girls
what a muddle

prattle

someone i don’t know is amazing.
        a little sip of coffee.
i move my head with it,
nodding and bobbing,
mmm, yeh, yeh, amazing.
my buoyant eyes,
gazing at his shoes
        the guy in front of me.
grazing a familiar field.
        we've been here before.
with a mouthful of cud.
she talks some more about this dude,
totally oblivious to my disdain,
so i purposefully burn my lip on the coffee.
wait,
what the fuck did i do that for?
now my lip hurts.
        light a fag and chew on it.