Walking Behind Man

This poem was written in response to the Rattle® Poetry Ekphrastic Challenge for November 2024 and was ultimately not selected. You can find more information here.

https://www.rattle.com/ekphrastic/

Walking Behind Man

Standing behind man

So that the sun will always

Rise and fall on him

As we are told that it must

I ought to be a thing of beauty

Gracefully draped on his arm

A rich man’s catch that should

Aspire to be the next

“Lady Rockefeller” of New York

Content in a world where society’s norms

Bind me to my fate

Tighter than a corset constricts

But I have heard the stories of out west

Where women smoke cigars and drink whiskey

And wears pants as men do

Oh how glorious that freedom must taste

Reflected in the eyes

Of other women as they pass by

My sisters in this cage

I see the hopes of our future

In universities and in the halls of Congress

There by our own achievements

To be called “Doctor” with our own name

To keep our names, our property, our money

But as quickly as these visions come, they go

Fleeting pleas of our souls

Desiring something more

A meaning to our life

Meanwhile,

I am relegated to walk behind man

And in his shadow

I fade

Submitted under MRB