that man
he was a woman, with
cropped hair and cobwebbed
words

that illiterate woman
she fought a court to
remain single

she in drag brought men to
war horse to water they
drank they drank deep

that girl
won a war dressed in
white that peasant
commanded a dauphin

and he obeyed
like a dog that virgin
at nineteen she became ash
before her own funeral

that life
that swift.
 

Lara Katz is 16; she lives in Weston, Connecticut