Woke up with this line stuck in my head. So, a poem and a painting.
—
When the Big Women Came to Town
When the Big Women Came to Town
They turned our lives all around.
Some were pink, some green, some blue,
Birds in their hair, grinning, and nude.
They released animals from the zoo
And tore men off equestrian statues.
They slept in parks and ate on the roofs,
And wherever they walked, flowers grew.
They mooned the bankers in their towers
And ripped down all the telephone wires.
They washed their feet in the canals -
Toned legs covered in thistledown.
The internet crashed, and we sat in the dark
And watched our flags become their washcloths.
Days went by, and nights felt long,
We huddled together and sang loneswept songs.
Then Patty tore off her clothes and joined them.
Her smile grew. And then she did, too.
Then Louise, Racquel, Pete, and Drew.
We danced around a pile of kicked-off shoes.
When the Big Women left our town,
We followed them southbound.
We left our beds, our mementoes, our home.
And went to the fields and forests to roam.
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