The mascot of my school is a lion; a monarch,
to be exact. Meaning king, the creature who sits
atop the food chain in the wild. Except its statue
on the quad has no cojones; just a rough undersurface
of concrete. Is this departure from anatomical
correctness intentional? A conservatism made
sure the mermaid mascots around this port
city are flat: flat-hipped, flat-chested, no tit-
illation of boobs beneath painted bandeaus.
It's not clear when balls was first used
to mean both the possession and lack of bravery
or nerve. Decades ago, my ex pushed my father
against the wall and swore lukdit mo to his face,
meaning dickhead. We were living with my parents
and he was angry at not being the man of the house.
I didn't have the nerve to speak up against this
injustice. Perhaps I hadn't grown my own balls yet.
But really, I had not yet come to understand
how strength, like in the Rider tarot, can be
a woman subduing the fearsome beast so it lets her
pat its head and scratch its chin, while the symbol
for infinity whirls gently above their heads.
Purveyors of fine poetry since 2003.
