(Originally published online at Second Chance Lit, April 2021)


​Why She Wears Black
“Women who wear black lead colorful lives.” — Neiman Marcus

She looks good in black.
Or maybe,
she was a witch in another life.
 
Not the one who vexed Dorothy, nor the one who saved her,
nor the kind who poisoned pretty princesses,
nor ate babies,
 
but the kind who delivered them,
who kept mothers from bleeding out
their lives with the after birth,
 
who knew the herbs and plants and trees that save
neighbors from fever and plague,
whose ability to ease pain, to cure,
 
so frightened men of small minds and great power
they cowered from her touch and lit a fire,
cauterized her healer’s heart and she,
 
being a witch,
did not die but returned to wear her charred
remains as proud drapery,
 
or maybe,
she just looks good in black.  

  -Robin Mullet

Displayed for the public on truck trailers as part of an art display in early 2021

​Mantra 2020
                
Stay safe
Stay well
Stay six feet apart but
Stay connected
(put your hand to the screen and touch me)
Stay engaged
(make “good trouble”)
Stay informed
(bless the truth sayers)
Stay optimistic
Stay smart
Stay whole
(stay sane, stay sane, stay sane)
Stay alive
Stay alive
(for all that’s holy, my beloveds)
Stay alive
Stay loved
Stay safe

​   -Robin Mullet