Rahab Poem by gershon hepner

I sing of Rahab, meaning “Broad, ”
not “innkeeper—she was a whore,
and very proud to be a bawd,
a fact that puritans abhor,
for prostitutes and madams aren’t
accepted in societies
where men preferring Kant and cant
define imperatives that tease
immoralists who’d rather pay
for sex than lie with mistresses
who claim that they’re prepared to play
and “know” them, as the bible says,
providing for their needs the satis-
faction that these men demand,
as if their services were gratis,
without a need for cash in hand.
A broad like Rahab I prefer
more confidante than concubine,
ingenious entrepreneur
who offered more than bread and wine
and Joshua’s spies, so when the wall
of Jericho fell down her sign
of scarlet saved the inn they call
not brothel but the great broad’s shrine.

1/29/06