...but then I attended public schools.

Hi.

Been lurking. Love the civilized tone on the poems fray. Will now awkwardly butt in.

Until I read comments in the fray, I was not even tempted to read this poem as literal sketch of a catholic schoolyard scene. After reading comments in the fray...still not tempted. The monkishness = pre-pubescent ignorance of the opposite sex. The conversion = an early if not first awareness of girls. I think it's that simple (described as trivial and as puppy love doggerel below) but then I'm simple minded. I say all of the Catholic imagery (especially, I hope, the sisters) is metaphorical; none is literal.

But these metaphors are sort of perverse, don't you think? What is joyful and glorious about a skull necklace? Especially to a ten year old! And why does it take a nun to awaken these early pubescent feelings in the monk? Not saying that doesn't happen, but this is a poem about primary school love. And finally, why is the conversion a conversion away from the life of religious devotion (monkish celibacy) rather than toward it?

I agree with MaryAnn that it's trivial but, with images like those, not very charming.