Tonight's Poet Corner: The Woman In Golden Armor

The Woman In Golden Armor
by Belinda Roddie

She slides to one knee, the woman
in golden armor, and lifts the pointed helmet
from her thatch of cropped hair, kissing its wet
metal nose before placing it on top
of her daughter's dark curls. She retrieves

her sword from the red puddle, and cleaning it
briskly against the dry grass, she returns it
to the scabbard hugging her plated hip,
the gleam of melted glory hiding her
battered, yet beautiful, black skin.

The daughter is a knight now, on the island
they call California, and the queen waits for
her greatest warriors to arrive in swarms
of sun-catching oro at the temple
of Allah. The red lips are expected to part
and reveal smiling teeth, as the continual preservation
of Her Highness's domain remains pristine. No conversion.
The legions of Calafía are hidden

from the scholars and cartographers of the Old World,
fictionalized into cheap Christian symbolism,
offering very little in terms of the true power
of the story's majestic characters.

This poem was inspired by the novel Las sergas de Esplandía (The Adventures of Esplandía) - with a twist, of course.