They say I'm a beast.
And feast on it. When all along
I thought that's what a woman was.
They say I'm a bitch.
Or witch. I've claimed
the same and never winced.
They say I'm a macha, hell on wheels,
viva-la-vulva, fire and brimstone,
man-hating, devistating,
boogey-woman lesbian.
Not necessarily,
but I like the compliment.
The mob arrives with stones and sticks
to maim and lame and do me in.
All the same, when I open my mouth,
they wobble like gin.
Diamonds and pearls
tumble from my tongue.
Or toads and serpents.
Depending on the modd I'm in.
I like the itch I provoke.
the rustle of rumor
like crinoline.
I am the woman of myth and bullshit.
(True. I authored some of it.)
I built my littel house of ill repute.
Brick by brick. Labored,
loved and masoned it.
I live like so.
Heart as sail, ballast, rudder, bow.
Rowdy. Indulgent to excess.
My sin and success--
I think of me to gluttony.
By all acounts I am
a danger to society.
I'm Pancha Villa.
I beark laws,
upset the natural order,
anguish the Pope and make fathers cry.
I am beyond the jaw of law.
I'm la desperada, most-wanted public enemy.
My happy picture grinning from the wall.
I stike terror among the men.
I can't be bothered what they think.
!Que se vayan a la ching chang chong!
For this, the cross, the Cavalry.
In other words, I'm anarchy.
I'm and aim-well,
shoot-sharp,
sharp-tongued,
sharp-thinking,
fast-speaking,
foot-loose,
loose-tongued,
let-loose,
woman-on-the-loose,
loose woman.
Beware, honey.
I'm Bitch. Beast. Macha.
!Wachale!
Ping! Ping! Ping!
I break things.
~Sandra Cisneros, from Loose Woman, c.1994