Featured image: Tower, by O. R. Wilkinson
Why do they lock up princesses in towers?
Surely they know by now segregation drives mad
Any lass would much prefer flowers
The knights clad with white gold call themselves saviors
Although they haul children from their mothers and fathers
Sapphire belted knights practice heathen behaviors
The king assures dough for the meager and poor
Yet it is coming from the lowly craftspeople not the
Elites who forge ahead persisting to bet and score
The fledglings dream with stars in their eyes
Wisdom and judgement of the old dresses young with stripes
Inquisition retained behind bars whilst their banner flies
Princes committed to designate gifts
Of gold to mammoths and mules
While the maidens are uplifted and dismissed
Kendra Stepnowski is a student in the Marquette English department. Kendra studies criminology and abnormal psychology which motivates the dark fantasy themes she writes.
The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Photography Collection, The New York Public Library. “Tower.” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 – 1930. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/4f0a3bb0-c546-012f-b114-58d385a7bc34