Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
The lady of the cleaners
doesn’t care.
She really doesn’t care.
She writes your fate
in a steamed inferno
and presses with despair.
Three pins in mouth—
Judas, Cassius, Brutus,—
she greets you low
and points with tail,
like Cerberus,
to where the stained
and spotted go.
“Come again,” she groans
in stitched and stapled tones.
“Ma non torno vivo alcun
s’i’odo il vero!”1
 
1“But no one returns from here alive, if what I hear is true!” Inferno
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

At the Vatican on Saturday, Pope Leo urged “reason and responsibility” amid rising tensions between Israel and Iran—just hours before lighting up the jumbotron at Chicago’s Rate Field, calling 30,000 faithful to be “beacons of hope.”
Inside the VaticanJune 19, 2025
President Donald Trump speaks as a flag pole is installed on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
As I write, Mr. Trump is declaring that “nobody knows” what he is going to do about Iran. I fear that “nobody” includes him.
Sam Sawyer, S.J.June 18, 2025
A Homily for the Feast of Corpus Christi, by Father Terrance Klein
Terrance KleinJune 18, 2025
”Catholics across the ideological spectrum have expressed hope that Leo will be able to heal some of the divisions that emerged during the pontificate of his predecessor, Pope Francis.”