Electricity

OH GOOD. More anti-God writings. This stupid class. The title deceived me: Women's Spirituality Across Cultures. Well it certainly is across cultures. BUT THEY'RE ALL CHRISTIANS! THAT'S NOT WHY I SIGNED UP FOR THIS CLASS! *sigh

Anyway, more from Sor Juana Inez de la Cruz in there.

First stanza (my words) mean: Mary, Mary,/ sacred apostle,/ mine -

Sor Juana's bit comes from a famous letter she wrote to...well, its addressed to Sor Filotea, which is really the pseudonym of an asshole bishop who stabbed her in the back. This section (the other Spanish bit) says (in my own very lose translation, based off of the translation by Margaret Sayers Peden): Well, if the evil [of learning] is the result of the fact that a woman [studies], then what is the evil in my being a woman?

The first time I read it, I read "devil" by accident, and thus the title. 

Questions for critique:
How do the line breaks work out for this piece? I've never kept them all quite this short...
How do you like the Spanish? More pointlessness? I suppose I don't REALLY need it...
Imagery: how well does it flow? I'm nervous about how I wove some of the stuff together.
Again: repetitions - yes/no?

Thanks! All comments welcome!

"Devil Woman"


María, María,
apóstol santo,
mío—

My confessor—
angel digging
talons
into my shoulder,
head full of
tangled copper wire,
winding roads of
electrical impulses

changing plus to minus

plus to minus

plus to minus…

Static
over the radio:
weather forecast,
flurries this evening—
furious violin songs
and a sleet
of broken horsehairs.

Synapse to synapse.

…

But no.

Pues si está el mal
en que los use una mujer,
ques ¿en qué está
el serlo yo ?
No, devils
we are not.

Oh, cannibal!
Take my heart
between your teeth,
clutching forest skirts and
wickedly
offering a heartbreak smile,
hiding teeth like cliffs.
Give me
that sly smile again,
Lady.

There are no devils
In womanhood.
Only tangled string,
joining two paper cups
we stole from
the picnic last weekend,
and a twisted knot
of radio signals.