by Katherine West
At first they just let us out for Christmas
like Eleanor of Aquitaine
in Lion in Winter
We were a bit cranky
(like Eleanor of Aquitaine)
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
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.