Guillermo Filice Castro draws a surprising parallel between an iconic television character and domestic discontent.
—
Ode to Lindsay Wagner as “The Bionic Woman”
Lindsay
because your slow-
motioned sprints
Seasons 1 to 3
made me happy
I used to do something
involving
tongue
and the back
of my throat
to approximate
the odd clicking noise
accompanying those
leaps and bending of iron
Julio said
I sounded like
a dolphin using echolocation
and I said
Finally
you got
your chance
to use a big word
anyhow Lindsay I loved
your grimace
lips bracing tight
against teeth
in a show
of strain
despite
all the aid
from your costly
fictional
limbs
yet
what was hard-
er to copy
how
your whole body
winched upward with each
short stride
as though yanked
by parachute strings
which now makes sense
you might say
female
agents
are never
truly free
oh the irony to what Julio
sneered
Meh
you run
like a
girl
and I lisped
You punch
like one
letting him
come
after me
with the zeal of an Español-
dubbed fembot
who still falls down all that power
notwithstanding
oh Lindsay
you might agree
back then
the self
seemed greedy for a good
wreck
because some-
one
was always
there
to fix it
as they fixed you
or so we thought
under clouds
greying fast
like the cast
on Julio’s
arm
***
First published in Court Green (2010)
Interested in submitting poetry to The Good Men Project? Check out our guidelines.
Like The Good Men Project on Facebook
Photo by gail_force_10 /Flickr