O, my competent everywoman
wearing skirt suits and button-downs,
the sensible heel and the sensible voice,
what hope you give me for every day
even if you sometimes miss the villain
right under your nose. I’d make
the same mistake too. Maybe it’s not
a mistake. You do help the plot along.
Let the Charmed Ones keep fighting,
let the stars burn bright, you’re just
sitting there shelving books. We’re all
just sitting there shelving books.
Yet I love you from before,
when I was newly married
and you were the lead for once.
I watched you love your husband
and another man without being
harlot bad girl crazy slut or
poor repressed put upon broken down girl.
Thank you for that one season Ann, thank you.

Jennifer Schomburg Kanke, originally from Columbus, Ohio, lives in Tallahassee, Florida, where she edits confidential documents for the government. Her work has appeared or is forthcoming in New Ohio Review, Prairie Schooner, and Pleiades. Her chapbook, Fine, Considering, about her experiences undergoing chemotherapy for ovarian cancer, is available from Rinky Dink Press. She serves as a reader for Emrys.