Renaissance Woman

"Do you want to be a small fish in a big pond?
Or, a large fish in a small pond?" he asked.
She needed time to phrase her answer right before she would respond.
She had an answer for the question left unasked.

She wouldn't let herself be manipulated
Or intimidated by this self-proclaimed spokes fish
That would try to wrap it's philosophies fated
Around terms like "equality" or "choice" or hellish

PC words like "tolerance" and "diversity"
She understood she'd been created for times like this
And she'd embrace her destiny as a challenge, anti
Curse, no matter personal circumstances; with a hiss

She fixed her gaze on him and turned the question
On him. "Why have you limited my world of choice?
I'm a winner, not a whiner," came her reply only just begun
"A leader, not a follower; victor, not victim," she did voice.

"I'll set my own agenda for personal achievement."
She'd been in the school long enough to realize
She wanted to change the paradigm from a movement
Of the fishes that had served to marginalize

And ridicule fish that didn't follow the collective agenda.
She picked up the mantel of leadership courageously.
"I choose to be human, create my own vedanta."
She did not give her reply spontaneously.

His vision squared on her; he'd never received such a request
Only one in a billion had ever asked; he took it as an omen.
With a fish-smile, he granted her wish without protest
And declared her to be Today's Renaissance Woman!

from the published archives --
Mimi Wolske (November 2010)
All Rights Reserved

(art by Brian M. Viveros)