Artemis patiently waits

©Cameron Altaras

Scriptures shape-shift to

Reign in life and

Direct the horses to

Keep black buggies full of girlhood dreams

to the side of the road.

Artemis patiently waits.

While the world evolves beyond

their blinders and out past the reaches of their reigns,

Artemis patiently waits.

Rules morph and cover

Never-cut-wound-tight hair

White head-coverings tied just so under chins to

Keep female heads full of questions

out of sight and in submission.

Artemis patiently waits.

While answers develop beyond

their grasp and farther than the reaches of their covering strings,

Artemis patiently waits,

until one of them reaches for her hand.

Longings labeled “sin” drape

Plain capes over shoulders

Growing heavier one generation to the next to

Keep women from giving birth

to forbidden strengths.

Artemis patiently waits.

While secret urges manifest new forms beyond

their inbred obedience and the reaches of the last thread of tradition’s cape,

Artemis patiently waits,

until one of them reaches for her hand and

Takes the arrow that she offers from her silver quiver

Shooting holes in every twisted scripture keeping women down

Wildly cutting every strand of hair bound up by Ordnung[1] and the Bishop

Reclaiming words, rekindling longings,

Unleashing dreams and urging vibrant life

Teaching women now to

Drop their blinders

Ask their questions

Use their strength

Grab their reigns and drive their horses right down the center of the road.

[1] Ordnung – A German word meaning: order, rules. In the language of the Amish, the Old Order Mennonite and other Swiss-German Mennonite communities, this word has the added weight of theological and church-sanctioned rules and traditions, with which one must abide if one is to remain a member of the church and community.

This poem is published in Cameron Altaras and Carol Penner, eds., Resistance: Confronting Violence, Power and Abuse Within Peace Churches (Elkhart, IN: Institute of Mennonite Studies, 2022), 188-190. Also published in Cameron Altaras and Sharla Nafziger, Confronting the Patterns that Silence Us (Seattle, WA: G Scott Works, 2023), 46.