I tell you, Tim – if manly Charlie Russell
And Frederic Remington were still around,
The former, at-it with his gaucho muscle –
The latter, at-it with his Indian mound –
Each one would lay aside his paints, immerse
His brush in turpentine, pick up your verse,
And, having read one line, would cry, “Astound-
Ing!” Mine? Each man would mouth it as he frowned,
Mind wandering to desert regions cursed
By women trading wampum counterfeit,
And turn aside to brass spittoons, and spit.
Their jaws, they’d clench, their booted toes, they’d curl,
Pretending not to recognize a girl –
To mutter, in those male minds, “Mother Wit!”
Jennifer Reeser
Jennifer Reeser’s seventh collection, Strong Feather, is forthcoming from Able Muse Press, the sequel to INDIGENOUS, which was awarded “Best Poetry Book of 2019” by Englewood Review of Books. Her work appears in the anthology, "Christian Poetry in America Since 1940," edited by Micah Mattix and Sally Thomas, forthcoming from Paraclete Press. She is a bi-racial writer of European-Native American ancestry. Her website may be viewed at www.jenniferreeser.com
Also by Jennifer Reeser (see all)
- Hawaii Five-O With Grandfather - May 24, 2022
- The Corn is My Pleasure - May 30, 2021
- The Sun Speaks of Her Lover - October 26, 2020
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