Our Women’s History Month celebration would hardly be complete without the queen of them all, Cleopatra!

We offer a nine poem series.

*****

Recorded Reading (1:08): https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3ayrex8rf79dguxev0yrv/cleo-five.mp3?rlkey=lydgsdi3p9wwxmhccin9pyknj&dl=0

*****
cleo five

i asked her
um, darlin…
how’d you do it?

all the rest of us
not born beauties
need to know!…

oh she said
well
it’s so much simpler than it seems

so simple
that we all
overlook it

yes i was educated
glamorous
and
at least with the first
genuinely passionate
genuinely in love

(i knew as i was watching him
sail away with his men
knew he would never return to me
told him so
he didn’t believe me then…)

but truly
what it mostly
came down to
was this:

i sat there in public
with a smile on my face
and no shirt on

you’ll notice
that neither one of them
took me home to meet mama

*****

Until removal of the stalker/targeter/vandal/arsonist following her allows her to approach any landlord ~ even for a private parking space ~ and to begin once again to create professional connections and to rebuild her life, this poet presently lives homeless and at a fraction of her nation’s poverty level ~ still working seven days a week to contribute to her society, however.

Arts patrons may visit http://www.UgiftABLE.com , using code #72D-31S, or choose to send a personal check to the poet’s ABLE account. It takes about two weeks for the poet to be notified of your patronage.

Thank you for supporting quality in the fine arts.