by Betsy Mars
This is the painting I did not paint,
the poem I didn't write.
It was never my curious eye
fixed on petri dish or darkest night.
Not my hand that held the pen
or brush, not my place to wish.
It must have been my better, man,
who led me to discover that which is
impossible for my gender. Please
excuse my claim to wonder—it was not
in my code but clearly the expertise
of some other pocket-protected polyglot.
A woman’s work is never done
by her. Now how can I atone?
Editor's Note: The Matilda Effect posits that women in science become overlooked because many of their discoveries and breakthroughs are attributed to men. —Lost Women of Science. “It is important to note early that women’s historically subordinate ‘place,’ in science (and thus their invisibility to even experienced historians of science) was not a coincidence and was not due to any lack of merit on their part. It was due to the camouflage intentionally placed over their presence in science.” —Margaret Rossiter, Women Scientists in America.
Betsy Mars is a prize-winning poet, photographer, publisher (Kingly Street Press), and currently an assistant editor at Gyroscope Review. In 2021 she was nominated for the Best of the Net and the Pushcart Prize. Betsy’s photos have been featured in Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, Spank the Carp, Praxis, and Redheaded Stepchild.