Courts, by Clara B. Jones

This is only a game that the first hominoids
………….played
on savannahs somewhere in Africa where
chivalrous men chained women torn
from their tribes, torn from their homes,
shipped to the New World for lives
………….as uncertain as climate.
This is only a game played in the courts
………….of Europe and Washington,
women (on pedestals—targets of gazes),
………….finding their voices,
surviving panopticons and kitchens.
Survivors—never returning to men
not good enough for friendship,
men who can’t share elevators,
men unable to share power—
to show a different sort of honor.

..

Clara B. Jones practices writing in Silver Spring, MD (USA) and conducts research on experimental literature, as well as, radical publishing. Among other works, Clara is author of the poetry collection, /feminine nature/, published in 2017 by Gauss PDF.