Greek Gods, 1978
I was often told to smile by complete strangers
as if a six year old girl in patched bellbottoms
& Mork & Mindy t-shirt wasn’t cheerful enough
I had to dwell in their space just while passing them
on the sidewalk walking but in my mind gliding
in new sneakers that promised hermetic levels of flight
I knew Greek mythology could even pronounce the Gods
correctly they had names like my heroes
on Battlestar Galactica which I watched with my twin & parents
in footed pajamas after my father brushed my hair
to a stellar shine I’d open my eyes wide to receive
the feathered hair & sensational teeth of Starbuck my 1st crush
but he didn’t like brunettes like me or dark jump-suited Athena
who served on the ship’s bridge sending space warriors into battle
with a girl-next-door attitude & contoured cheeks she lost him
over & over again to Cassiopeia of the white-winged disco
dresses who was hopelessly blonde like my mother
who everyone eyed sideways when she walked by them
same for Cassiopeia no one seemed to breathe around her
& Starbuck never really had to choose but they fought over him
nonetheless while he just threw on his leather jacket & blasted
himself into space with a joystick off to fight Cylons in a fleet of jets
called Vipers I hated her (I loved my mother) I still don’t trust blonde women
I had the power to dress myself & dressed for myself with Wonder
Woman Underoos underneath as armor for when neighborhood
boys thundered by in a gang of big-wheels catcalling
& that was all I knew of romance for an age
I was often told to smile by complete strangers
as if a six year old girl in patched bellbottoms
& Mork & Mindy t-shirt wasn’t cheerful enough
I had to dwell in their space just while passing them
on the sidewalk walking but in my mind gliding
in new sneakers that promised hermetic levels of flight
I knew Greek mythology could even pronounce the Gods
correctly they had names like my heroes
on Battlestar Galactica which I watched with my twin & parents
in footed pajamas after my father brushed my hair
to a stellar shine I’d open my eyes wide to receive
the feathered hair & sensational teeth of Starbuck my 1st crush
but he didn’t like brunettes like me or dark jump-suited Athena
who served on the ship’s bridge sending space warriors into battle
with a girl-next-door attitude & contoured cheeks she lost him
over & over again to Cassiopeia of the white-winged disco
dresses who was hopelessly blonde like my mother
who everyone eyed sideways when she walked by them
same for Cassiopeia no one seemed to breathe around her
& Starbuck never really had to choose but they fought over him
nonetheless while he just threw on his leather jacket & blasted
himself into space with a joystick off to fight Cylons in a fleet of jets
called Vipers I hated her (I loved my mother) I still don’t trust blonde women
I had the power to dress myself & dressed for myself with Wonder
Woman Underoos underneath as armor for when neighborhood
boys thundered by in a gang of big-wheels catcalling
& that was all I knew of romance for an age
Majda Gama is a Saudi-American poet based in the Washington, DC area where she has roots in the local punk scene. Her poems have appeared in Beloit Poetry Journal, Hunger Mountain, Mizna & War, Literature & the Arts. Poems are forthcoming from Duende, The Fairy Tale Review, and the 90's anthology Come As You Are. Majda is a reader for Tinderbox magazine.