Adamant

[Achebe]

she wears the holes of crucifixion
from the years spent standing in place of a cock ...............I'm sure you could bowdlerise this line a bit? I find it hilarious
at the mercy of the winds that swirled across the steeple ...... 'at the mercy of'  - cliche?
 
now fallen, her wings are torn from her back
and her breast is exposed from behind
so her traitor heart can pump its last ...... Three 'hers' in a row? Jawohl, Herr Kolonel.
into the filth upon which this church perches
like an aged buzzard
too blind to do more than peck feebly for bile
 
beneath her hand, the shards of a once-sealed jar
stab at her skin, and within its shattered curve .... more 'hers'?
is a single white feather