Judith

No yen for battle, no bloodlust.

I even looked away when they butchered the lambs.

Still, my village gray with dust, our crops

dying like prayer

in the earth’s parched throat.

A woman does what she must.

As I swayed past him,

Holophernes grinned.

Shrewd general,

but passion’s fool.

My weapons – kohl

around the eyes, crushed beetles

to redden my lips. The axe

blade sharp as thirst.

Two strokes – one for

the blocked river, one to sever

the last stubborn flap.

Stuck on the gate, his head

issued silent commands.

The soldiers rushed away like water

dammed, then freed.

Jezebel

Always one religion

devours another,

always the new god

hungry for blood.

The truth

of any prophecy’s decided

by those left alive.

Sure I painted my face,

though beauty failed

to stop the eunuchs’

grabbing hands.

Tossed from the balcony,

I plummeted.

They cheered to see my body

broken like a law,

my flesh manna

to the ravenous pack.

Wounded Amazon

A woman is more than her injuries

what enters

what draws blood

To fight means to be safe

to live

Most men have two faces

so an axe

needs two sharp sides

There are many kinds of wounds

In other lands my sisters

toil and spin,

men’s habits, hungers

written into law

The exhilaration of a well-placed blade!

Once a warrior has killed a man in battle

she can marry

About the Poet

Alison Stone has published six full-length collections, Caught in the Myth (NYQ Books, forthcoming 2019), Dazzle (Jacar Press, 2017), Masterplan, a book of collaborative poems with Eric Greinke  (Presa Press, 2018), Ordinary Magic, (NYQ Books, 2016), Dangerous Enough (Presa Press 2014), and They Sing at Midnight, which won the 2003 Many Mountains Moving Poetry Award; as well as three chapbooks. Her poems have appeared in The Paris Review, Poetry, Ploughshares, Barrow Street, Poet Lore, and many other journals and anthologies. She has been awarded Poetry’s Frederick Bock Prize and New York Quarterly’s Madeline Sadin Award. She was recently Writer in Residence at LitSpace St. Pete. She is also a painter and the creator of The Stone Tarot. A licensed psychotherapist, she has private practices in NYC and Nyack. www.stonepoetry.org  www.stonetarot.com