Thoughts from a Thinking Girl

Something is askew.

We’re back to imprisonment myths

sequestering women who think or act

as if they had the right to.

We’ll tell our children, in a way that will never

make them uncomfortable,

that storks bring babies

and of course, you can’t mess with a bird in the air.

So says the new junta

so say the new titans

their spire of hatred

walled, fenced, boundaried and bordered,

the damsel’s hair will never reach the ground

the steed and the prodigal knight have morphed

to an indifferent slump

boarded the train that has left the station

past the painting on the wall.

Everywhere, the fat white baby hanging

from the stork’s long beak

is replacing the eagle.

This is the overturned story they wrote.