by Linda M. Crate
i will not bow
suppose i am not the
perfect incantation
of female they seek
i am too fierce and wild
refusing to be tamed
i want to be appreciated for
everything i am
not forced to change for the
sake of anyone,
who are they to demand that
from me?
i am who i am
and they are but men not gods,
never will i surrender
to their will;
i will not bow or kneel
before anyone
i am a queen and i have more self-respect
than to take off a title to become
anyone’s princess—
what need do i have of a prince
if he is only charming?
my soul is mine
as is my destiny,
never shall i surrender either;
you can tell me i’m wrong
but i’ve never cared what people thought
no matter how many times my parents
said i should—sorry not sorry
i have always been proud of my inner light.
Linda M. Crate‘s poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has five published chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press, June 2013), Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon, January 2014), If Tomorrow Never Comes (Scars Publications, August 2016), My Wings Were Made to Fly (Flutter Press, September 2017), and splintered with terror (Scars Publications, January 2018), and one micro-chapbook Heaven Instead (Origami Poems Project, May 2018). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018).
(And don’t forget to check out Linda’s poem the last laugh. – Elephants Never)