I Won't Surrender. by Linda M. Crate

I drank the appletini

with a sweet smile

I liked that I couldn't taste

the alcohol

I've always liked the fruity drinks,

but I follow it up with "i like vodka, too"

as if there's any shame

in liking what I liked;

but I guess it's my way of saying sorry

as I always do

like my existence is something to be ashamed of—

but I'm working on that because

I can like what I like,

and be who I am;

drink or not in my hand

I won't be ashamed of the person I am

because only a fool would think they could break

their bones and bend them into the shape

of another person—

we're born as we are,

and we evolve each day forward;

with a magic and a voice all our own

so I will own both of these in me and grab my power

never shall I surrender either.

- linda m. crate

Linda M. Crate's poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has five published chapbooks A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press - June 2013), Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon - January 2014), If Tomorrow Never Comes (Scars Publications, August 2016), My Wings Were Made to Fly (Flutter Press, September 2017), and splintered with terror (Scars Publications, January 2018), and one micro-chapbook Heaven Instead (Origami Poems Project, May 2018). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018).