Conditioned

Suzanne Morris

December 7, 2025

We are all struck dumb

when the woman bursts through

the tall entryway of the nave

during Sunday worship.

Well past fifty, by the looks of her,

she wears a bright yellow tank top

and a skirt so short it barely

conceals her buttocks

revealing a pair of deeply tanned

arms and shapely legs, and

accentuating her full head of

champagne-blond tinted hair.

She stalks all the way up a side aisle

to the door at the foot of the chancel,

assailing us for locking her out.

Jesus sure isn’t here, she swears.

Then she is gone,

leaving us breathless,

the air still charged

with her anger.

Soon after worship resumes,

someone asks that we

pray for the woman.

We bow our heads.

During coffee hour, we discover

the gut reaction shared among

most who were present

during the episode:

Oh my God, what if

she has a gun?

Before becoming a poet, Suzanne Morris was a novelist, with eight published works between 1976 and 2016.  Many of her early poems were featured in her fiction, to advance the underlying themes.  Since 2020, she has contributed poems to several anthologies, and has been published at a variety of online poetry journals, including The Texas Poetry Assignment.  A native Houstonian, Ms. Morris has resided in Cherokee County for 17 years.