when I neared
the fraught age of
early adolescence
my mother relayed
the legend of an infant
resplendent in white silk & lace
stowed away on an ocean liner
departing Le Havre
approaching New York
the captain pressed for
a Christian benefactor
from those traveling first class
e.g., my great-great-grandfather
an Episcopal divine
this child became
my great-grandmother Genevieve
when any woman in our family
strayed, whether they
dropped out of school or used drugs
shacked up or got knocked up
or married down or
heaven forfend, divorced
my mother hastened to blame
that foreign blood
women have more to lose
than men, she’d say
& warn me once again
about that Jezebel, a cousin
reputed to fool around
hubris not to be condoned
only men
could play Don Juan
