by Katherine West
At first they just let us out for Christmas like Catherine of Aragon in Lion in Winter We were a bit cranky (like Catherine of Aragon) and it didn’t go well Nevertheless, they kept trying and many called for our presence at Easter We sat between chicks and bunnies and tried to look fluffy Better this time as long as we didn’t speak or bare our teeth while eating chocolate rabbits Soon birthdays were demanded like clowns or magicians no party was complete without us until someone pulled a baby out of a hat (instead of a scarf or a white rabbit) pink and plump and lisping mama so that everyone could hear They had forgotten that we could do that They tried to lock us up citing the Constitution and the Bible but we had learned a thing or two from our time in the limelight When they came to take us away (again) we put our hands over our heads and clapped like Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter We vanished (like Dumbledore) but no one said we had “class” Hidden in plain sight now we walk the streets barefoot leaving bloodprints behind us impossible not to follow We magnetize the races like Joan of Arc in Joan of Arc
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Katherine West lives in Southwest New Mexico, near Silver City. She has written three collections of poetry: The Bone Train, Scimitar Dreams, and Riddle, as well as one novel, Lion Tamer. Her poetry has appeared in journals such as Writing in a Woman's Voice, Lalitamba, Bombay Gin, The New Verse News, Tanka Journal, Splash! and Eucalypt, Writers Resist, and Feminine Collective. The New Verse News nominated her poem "And Then the Sky" for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. In addition she has had poetry appear as part of art exhibitions at the Light Art Space gallery in Silver City New Mexico, the Tambaugh Gallery in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and at the Windsor Museum in Windsor, Colorado.
That's not Catherine of Aragon. It's Eleanor of Aquitaine!