Tonight's Poet Corner: Valentinus
Valentinus by Belinda Roddie You all know me: I am worthy of your attention. My grave is plastered over with paper hearts and doilies. My power comes from mystery; no one knows if there was only one of me. My name is scrawled on every Hallmark card and banner glued to the glass teeth of a storefront's mouth, sealing each transaction with a kiss. I am Valentinus - a saint, let me remind you, a man of God who slapped his palms across a girl's eyes and forced her to see her surroundings again. Asterius was impressed. He smashed his idols for me, fasted until his stomach caved in, and I sated the spirit of his belly with holy water, baptized him while his disorders growled for sustenance. Claudius, not so thrilled. He saw how I tied lovers' hands into Christian knots so husbands wouldn't go to war - or maybe I was just bitchslapping the concept of persecution, I don't know - and so he stripped me of my own grip on mortality. I bear the bruise