Moral Compass
2020; Emerson College; Volume: 46; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/plo.2020.0167
ISSN2162-0903
Autores Tópico(s)Ethics in medical practice
ResumoMoral Compass Janice Northerns (bio) When I gave up praying,an $800 windfall arrived in the mailand no longer did I brew my tearsinto a bitter tea that paid the bills. Though it turned out to be surplus in theescrow account, once I'd have chalked it upto God—that unexpected checka biscuit for the trick I'd been taught. But what, if not answered prayer?I knew church elders deemed it the devil's lull,sleight of hand to make me thinkI could stand on my own two feet. I waited for the iron fist I'd wriggled free fromto squeeze closed, waited for the leashto be yanked, waited for the prayer-scabbed skinof my knees, barely healed, to split open again. But meanwhile, I whirled, newly alone,in my living room to a Bonnie Raitt tune;then worked up my nerve and rangthe doorbell of a renthouse across town whose occupant had latelyjaywalked through my dreams.As a child, I was taught the logic of God:how else to discern sin's charred lumps of coal from the diamondsstudding that promised crown? [End Page 132] How else, on the day of reckoning,to know if I was wholesome whole wheat or that wastrel Jezebel, chaff? And what about Eve,when after eons she found her way outof Eden's maze, finally freed from Adam's know-it-allgaze? Without God, how else, indeed, could Eve, that first time she chose for herself,have known she was clearly in the wrong? [End Page 133] Janice Northerns Janice Northerns is the author of Some Electric Hum (Lamar University Literary Press, 2020). Awards include a Brush Creek Foundation residency, a Sewanee Writers' Conference scholarship, second place in Southwest Review's 2017 Marr Poetry contest, and the Robert S. Newton Award in Creative Writing from Texas Tech University. Northerns grew up on a farm in rural West Texas and holds bachelor's and master's degrees from Texas Tech University. She and her husband live in southwest Kansas. Copyright © 2020 Emerson College
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