It’s Mardi Gras. Confetti and paper streamers color the neighborhood. The shop is filled with wigs and costumes of all kinds. What dress would you like to try on? the salesgirl asks me. I am not shy, but mother is quicker to reply. A medieval princess, she says. I pout. No! I say. Mother turns towards me, as if I were a freak of some sort. Yes, dear? No! I say again. I want a Robin Hood costume, I add. But, you are a girl! says the salesgirl in horror. Even girls can fight! I tell her defiantly. I love Camilla, the woman warrior in my mythology book. She fought so bravely. Killing so many. I like arrows! I speak out loud. Mother shakes her head. The salesgirl wears a grin on her face. Many arguments later we leave the shop. My face is all red. My soul has as many cuts as St. Sebastian. O the stings of pain, as I walk the streets wearing a pink frock and a horned headdress that reminds me of Maleficent. Mother won, this time.
Alessandra Bava is a poet and a translator who lives and works in the Eternal City. Three of her chapbooks have appeared in the United States. Her poems have been published in journals such as Gargoyle, Plath Profiles, THRUSH Poetry Journal, and Tinderbox . She is currently writing the biography of a contemporary American poet.