> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.fsm.ink/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Deliver Me from Purity
- URL: https://www.fsm.ink/deliver-me-from-purity/
- Published: 2026-05-18T16:00:39.000Z
- Updated: 2026-06-03T17:37:13.000Z
- Author: Isabel Dorn
- Tags: Poetry, #Import 2026-08-03 09:59

*by Isabel Dorn*

Every sound is a serpent  
when all fruit is forbidden  
so hungry women exist  
in a most intimate hell.  
They said hands are dangerous  
things for a girl to have  
because they reach into possibility  
and claim what she desires.  
All ladies are taught to hide  
their hunger. I’ve learned to bind  
my own hands  
like my fingers are laden  
with poisonous thorns  
like the quietest brush of  
my knuckles against yours  
would set your fair skin aflame.  
I’ve learned to shrink my body  
from the specter of your warmth, watching  
your shadow like a rear-view  
mirror to avoid disaster. I’ve learned to hoard  
every image of you,  
stealing glances and breath  
in your presence until even looking  
feels like sacrilege. I’ve learned to lower  
my gaze from your beauty, never letting  
my eyes linger too long on your  
fingers curling around your ballpoint pen  
and the pulse of life in  
your naked throat, because shame  
turns the entire body to temptation  
until even a glimpse of  
your neck is obscene.  
  
I’ve learned to see sin  
in every corner of the garden  
until the only light I know  
is hellfire. And now I fear  
not even the love of God  
can deliver me from purity.

> Isabel Dorn (she/her) is a graduate student who uses poetry to examine the complexities of intersectionality and coming of age in the 21st century. As a Vietnamese American woman, she sees writing as a powerful tool for social justice and strives to create more visibility for underrepresented groups with her work.