POETRY

Girl 8

Dante Gabriel Rosetti, “Jehane la Pucelle.” Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Girl 1, the scapegoat, banished out of Eden.

Girl 2, born in ditch, dies without a name.

Girl 3 survives, endures a life of misery and shame.

Girl 4 goes down fighting, buried in a bog.

Girl 5, confined to chair, treated like a dog.

Girl 6, forced to wear makeup and a dress.

Girl 7, same work, paid a little less.

“Girl, 8, pulls a 1,500-year-old sword from a lake in Sweden”