No Capes!

I. Joanne Rowling goes under initials instead of her real name after being told that boys
wouldn’t buy her books. 

II. Gillian Anderson, who plays Special Agent Dana Scully in The X-Files        
uncovers the truth, is still paid less than the men in her field, 
her success becomes a conspiracy theory.

III. In Pokémon: Indigo League, Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy have sisters that are all given
the same name, their personalities erased from the storyline. Brock remembers the
shape of their bodies the entire series. 

IV. Princess Zelda ties her hair up and covers her face with green cloth so her
womanhood goes unnoticed in battle.

V. Jessica Jones does not reduce her strength to small scale, 
pours whiskey into a thermos and shrugs when her apartment door does not lock, 
rips the Manhattan sky open with her bare hands. 

VI. Wonder Woman defies the gravity of both strapless tops and the male gaze.
When her period shows up early while fighting Dr. Psycho, Wonder Woman is not sorry,
refuses to apologize for this bloodshed. 

VII. Edna Mode leaps onto the table in front of the sobbing, stressed wife and mother
Mrs. Helen Parr, raps her over the head with a bundle of newspaper and screams, “You
are Elastigirl! Pull! Yourself! Together! You will show him that you remember that he is
Mr. Incredible, and you will remind him WHO YOU ARE.” 
Mrs. Parr packs her bags. Helen takes her place in the cockpit and speeds off in a jet to
save her husband. Elastigirl does not back down. 

VIII. Animator and director, Rebecca Sugar holds the universe in her palms,           
creates a world of magic she can see herself living in,                                     
asks herself when women can finally come claim it as theirs.


Alias Investigations  

After being under The Purple Man’s control for eight months, Jessica Jones took the opportunity she
had when he was unconscious and punched him in the face.

AKA Kilgrave will wake up and his pupils will dilate in front of Jessica’s nose
 
AKA Jessica Jones watches the bruise blossom along The Purple Man’s jaw

                                                            Rude Girl is no amateur. Rude Girl is two moves ahead.
                                                            Rude Girl is a boxing match with rings on every finger.

AKA Jessica’s fists became bouquets

AKA Jessica Jones lets the flowers wilt and refuses to make pain sound pretty
 
                                                            Rude Girl is no gardener.
                                                            Rude Girl made a friendship bracelet out of thorns.
 
AKA Jessica Jones drinks whiskey straight out of the bottle
 
AKA Jessica Jones sometimes drinks because whiskey is a clean thing Kilgrave cannot touch
 
                                                          Rude Girl is no bar fight, is no lightweight of a lady you
                                                           thought you saw coming.
 
AKA Jessica went to the police station and the mind control of a man in a violet suit has all
the officers point their guns at their own heads
 
AKA Jessica throws all of her colored blouses out, dyes her hair black, wears her leather
jacket like a uniform or a shield
 
AKA Jessica Jones will never un-memorize what his voice sounded like                                                
       or the crooked piano of his teeth
 
                                                         Rude Girl is no musician,
                                                         splits the porcelain sink in half and calls herself the anvil.
 
AKA Jessica Jones knows the vulnerable foundation of new love,
knows its pressure points and exactly how to shatter it with her heels
 
AKA Jessica grits her teeth when she hears him say her name, remembers how the guitar riff
of his throat made it a song, the window boxes in her childhood home, how Kilgrave
​touched her cheek and tried to convince her it was music

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Adrienne Novy is a poet and teaching artist from the Chicago suburbs studying Creative Writing and Education in Saint Paul, MN. Her work can be found in FreezeRay Poetry, Harpoon Review, Voicemail Poems, Rising Phoenix Review, and on Button Poetry. She loves dogs, too many books, and hopes her favorite coffee shop will sponsor her one day. She is a strong believer in that it’s possible to be both cute and powerful at the same time.