"Joan"

by Dex

Cheers
To the patron Saint
Of unrealistic expectations
The symbol
Of pure, pious women
Who are both
Perfect warriors
And sober virgins

What perfect, impossible
Woman
Needs a Saint like that
Or at all?

Me and my sisters
Need the Saint of bitches
And whores
And glorified secretaries
The Saint of ill-fitting armor
And unnecessarily separate quarters

Give me the Saint the boys pray to
The one for the
Drinkers and smokers
And dumb motherfuckers
The Saint for the fighters, rock-eaters
And belligerent assholes
The saint
Of standing before The Man
To answer
For the absolute rager
Thrown last night

Give me the saint
For Warriors and killers
For women
With no time or desire to be soft
The saint who will hear me
Around the cigar and the swearing
Who will bless these hands
That they may
Get The Fucking Gun Up
When the moment comes

Give me Joan as she was tried
And tied
To the stake
Of unrealistic expectations
As the Patron Saint of ashes and blood
The Joan of my sisters, and me

The fire that burned Joan
It burns me still

---

Follow Dex here. Listen to our Savage Wonder podcast episode with Dex here.

---

Come hear Dex live at the Savage Wonder Festival of veterans in the arts on May 29! Have you gotten your tickets yet?

If you give monkeys enough time, can they really write Hamlet? How did Leon Trotsky actually react to finding an axe embedded in his head? What does it take for two strangers to fall in love without screwing it up? Are you having a bad day or are you simply stuck in a "Philadelphia"? The VetRep 2022 season of staged readings kicks off with an evening of fast and funny staged readings featuring the whimsical comedy of David Ives.

Get your Pay What You Can tickets here quickly - remember only 16 seats per performance!