Ready for any feminist feat
In her boob-tube and starry skirt,
Wonder-Woman looks petite
(though probably ought to don a shirt)
In, fact we’d better make her black
Before her foes, unhinged, attack . . .

Go-go boots show off her legs
Muscled for emancipation;
And for bearing wonder-eggs
Through empowered ovulation.
Binary gender’s warrior queen
Bursts forth upon our sexist scene,

And bristling with the strength of ten
Of her not-so wondrous sisters,
She centers red-starred crown, and then
She’s off to fight the truth’s resisters:
Rosie the Riveter’s better half—
An old-school feminist sacred calf.

PROMPT #17:

write a poem about, or involving, a superhero

NB: an astute commenter noted that I made a comic mistake.
(Marvel not… oh, whoops; Diana of Themyscira is actually DC)
This is indeed Wonder Woman, NOT “Superwoman” as first scribed.
Therefore a quick poetic edit was called for…

I wish that, philosophically,
I could commune with my dear wife . . .
Instead, we biologically
Against all odds, amidst the strife,
Pursue one therapeutic end
Where pleasures, with relief, descend.

I wish we could discuss the arts—
Talk poetry and invoke the Muse.
In place of that, by fits and starts,
We thrill to what we can’t refuse:
Theory made practice, sweaty, hot…
Conjecture spurned for what we’ve got.

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia,
from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, 
who was a worshiper of God.        Acts 16:14 [ESV]

I’ll say it straight to Alice Walker’s face:
Veil for prostitutes and genderqueer beasts—
A color fit for hierophants and priests;
Symbol of both the decadent and base.
A hue unfit for tablecloths at feasts . . .
Scarlet is regal. Blue, too, has its place.
Let Thyatiran Lydia state her case,
But purple celebrates strange swelling yeasts.
No fault in bordering on indigo
As long as chroma stays within the blue.
But mix it up with red? Don’t do it. No.
Yet, good contrast to yellow’s golden grail . . .
What says the holy humble Murex snail?
Feel me: PURPLE is not the way to go.

PROMPT #17:
write a poem that repeats or focuses on a single color.

70 A.D.

History comes back to bite us
As we learn of the temple and Titus.
When it’s Rome against Jews,
There is one side must lose—
Though the outcome may fail to delight us.

135 A.D.

Another rebellion: once more
They attempted to settle the score.
Since “messiah” Bar-Kokhba
(Right up to the Nakba)
The region relapses to war.

PROMPT 20: write a poem that recounts a historical event.
Draw on your memory, encyclopedias, history books, or primary documents.