I wrote this poem as I became annoyed by the flat roles of female characters in many epic films I watched, where female actors have few lines and a good portion of them are just ridiculous screams. I was also inspired by the idea of those who miss out on the epic adventure, particularly by Penelope, Odysseus’ wife left behind to fend off suitors.
Since I’ve just one line in the next two hours
I’ll say it soft from my offstage bowers:
I’ll say it in the time it takes
For a scream to summon a rugged male
While you measure my waist in camera shakes
And repeatedly cue my face to pale
Since: you can’t expect the fade-to-black
When your ship exhales in calmer air
You must push my darling suitors back
While I dress your wounds with gushing care
With a flourish of flashback I will see
How you swept the landscape, saved the race
But when I show my unraveled tapestry
You plummet into that other place
Where the sun is pink and the moon is black
And a score of strings can staunch a bleed
So I pack a bag and slip out the back
To my own feature film, with a mare for a steed.