Judith
No yen for battle, no bloodlust.
I even looked away when they butchered the lambs.
Still, my village gray with dust, our crops
dying like prayer
in the earth’s parched throat.
A woman does what she must.
As I swayed past him,
Holophernes grinned.
Shrewd general,
but passion’s fool.
My weapons – kohl
around the eyes, crushed beetles
to redden my lips. The axe
blade sharp as thirst.
Two strokes – one for
the blocked river, one to sever
the last stubborn flap.
Stuck on the gate, his head
issued silent commands.
The soldiers rushed away like water
dammed, then freed.
Jezebel
Always one religion
devours another,
always the new god
hungry for blood.
The truth
of any prophecy’s decided
by those left alive.
Sure I painted my face,
though beauty failed
to stop the eunuchs’
grabbing hands.
Tossed from the balcony,
I plummeted.
They cheered to see my body
broken like a law,
my flesh manna
to the ravenous pack.
Wounded Amazon
A woman is more than her injuries
what enters
what draws blood
To fight means to be safe
to live
Most men have two faces
so an axe
needs two sharp sides
There are many kinds of wounds
In other lands my sisters
toil and spin,
men’s habits, hungers
written into law
The exhilaration of a well-placed blade!
Once a warrior has killed a man in battle
she can marry
About the Poet
Alison Stone has published six full-length collections, Caught in the Myth (NYQ Books, forthcoming 2019), Dazzle (Jacar Press, 2017), Masterplan, a book of collaborative poems with Eric Greinke (Presa Press, 2018), Ordinary Magic, (NYQ Books, 2016), Dangerous Enough (Presa Press 2014), and They Sing at Midnight, which won the 2003 Many Mountains Moving Poetry Award; as well as three chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Barrow Street, Poet Lore, and many other journals and anthologies. She has been awarded Poetry’s Frederick Bock Prize and New York Quarterly’s Madeline Sadin Award. She was recently Writer in Residence at LitSpace St. Pete. She is also a painter and the creator of The Stone Tarot. A licensed psychotherapist, she has private practices in NYC and Nyack. www.stonepoetry.org www.stonetarot.com
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