Catherine Heath
May 2020
She is an alpha female.
She’s bold;
She’s beautiful;
She’s brave.
Other alpha females
Run to her,
And make alliances––
Knowing
We have finally found
Our own kind
(As she knows her own mind).
We love women,
And respect men;
Alive
To the dazzling beauty of the world,
And the fiery pit
Of hell
That lurks below us.
No one understands––
Nor why should they––
We are mothers,
Sisters,
Daughters,
Wives.
Who has one personality
To play all these roles?
And if my personalities fracture––
Who’s fault is that?
Certainly not mine,
Or yours.
But we stumble on,
Searching for beauty,
Searching for love,
Which we won’t find up above––
But in each other,
In the letters we sent,
The photographs;
The happy memories
That are never spent.
We met in the playgrounds,
In the corridors
Of our school,
Awkward
In polyester uniform.
People played and capered around,
But we plotted––
Planning to take over the world.
Alpha female,
Awkward girl,
Wondering if we’re right in the head?
(Other people seem so dead
Compared to our fiery aliveness.)
I found more of us
In the business world––
CEOs,
Scientists,
Community Managers.
They are
Beautiful,
Smart,
Radiant women
(Feels like we’ve never been apart).
What are we, really?
Actually friends––
Best friends,
And girlfriends.
Not Sex and the City,
But Harry Potter,
Because we can do magic,
And we save the world
One spell at a time.
(Dumbledore is dead,
But Hermione always
Has her books).
Other people told me what to do,
But I thought only of you,
Alpha female––
How we knew the mind
Was our strongest weapon;
(Our curvy bodies
Just a bonus
When we wanted to have fun).
I knew you were the one,
Because we wrote letters,
Called each other,
Had sleepovers,
And laughed at ourselves.
That’s how I know what friendship is––
Not these sterile “communities”,
Barely more than a dictatorship
For victims.
Friendship is secret,
Friendship is true;
No one knows how much I love you––
But I always knew.
Credit: Photo by Katarzyna Grabowska on Unsplash
