Letters Across the Room

there you are, my lovely heroine
standing next to your groom
it was you who sent those letters
flying across the room
centuries kept turning like pages in a book
withering flowers in bloom
as the ancient canvas opened its arms
to let you out just this once
tell me tell me, let me in on this
tell me what’s worse
be broken, unequal, inferior to men
or simply vanish away
boldly you told them
that easel was your husband, your dowry
you studied the muscle and bone
sickened with all this virility
canny in craft you saw his masculinity
become his fall
now shoulder by shoulder
with your sisters in crime you stand
you know your work has just begun
cover those ears, close those eyes
let sentiment and pity yield to the crush
the Witch is ready to burn
over and over again
my flesh, my blood, my only sister in crime
of not walking away,
of painting your life
in a thousand shades of solitude
Artemisia…