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Daughters of Witches you couldn't Burn

What is common with the numerous stories 
and fables and mythology 
and history and NOW, and ever,
of a tribe of strong women?
Why is history and NOW so spineless
that they bring down crime  
and war, rights and wrong
to the doing of this tribe
that they cannot handle?

That they cannot handle 
a woman with herbs,
a woman behind a telescope,
a woman with an axe,
with a head full of snakes,
a woman with beauty or without, and hair,
a woman with a voice,
in their heads or in their body,
a woman with the ballot,
with a sceptre, 
or women with the pen
or swag.

The narratives that should move around the
morals of right and wrong,
are inevitably reduced
to darkness, you cannot explain
that is beyond your comprehension.
BEYOND YOU.

And then you chop down the head of Medussas,
burn them tied to the poles,
and make them examples to many women-
to get it in their bones 
that strong women are "audacious".
That "audacity" is a crime.
and then her herbs are the crime,
her brains are a crime,
her cigarettes are a crime,
her scientific acumen is a crime,
her body is a crime,
her laughter is a crime.

Her inquisitiveness to take a bite 
of knowledge was The Sin.
That asking for her stature be equal as yours
made her a dark, senile outcast.
And then when it has been ingrained
into her bones, and in your lores,
and your stories of her fate
when she defied you,
 to gaze into stars--
That is when you made her, her own enemy.

And yet, there will always arise
Kalis and Medussas,
Ametarasus and Katherines-
Helens and Cleopatras--
despite your twisted tales to malign--
and yet again they will rise
In forms, you will never know--
In forms that are still the strong women
who, you will fail to understand--

And they are the daughters of the witches 
you could not burn.

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