always equals
poem by Linda M. Crate
if a prince should come for me, i will send him away for i am a queen in pursuit of a king; someone who knows heaven isn't always easy to find but is worth having, someone who knows my flaws and accepts them along with my beauty and my virtue—someone who isn't afraid but respects my ferocity and fury, someone who knows both my tempest and my soft singing waves; someone who can withstand all my elements: fire, water, wind, earth, and void—he who can know my sarcasm and know without hestitation if it is a joke or if i'm seriously done with the situation that may arise, he who can whether my storms and my thorns; and still want me—i have met many a prince intimidated by my power, i want someone who can lift me with his gaze and remind me of my divinity and voice when i have forgotten my magic; someone with whom will support my dreams and whose dreams i can support—someone who knows i am valid and i am whole on my own: even if i am a woman, because we've never been lesser; always equals.
Linda M. Crate's poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has five published chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press - June 2013), Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon - January 2014), If Tomorrow Never Comes (Scars Publications, August 2016), My Wings Were Made to Fly (Flutter Press, September 2017), and splintered with terror (Scars Publications, January 2018), and one micro-chapbook Heaven Instead (Origami Poems Project, May 2018). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018). Read more of her work in our Hallow’s Eve issue!