I married a rebel, my husband says,
when I entered a construction site.
In my defense, there was no one working.
My nephew calls me an instigator
because my tee shirt says,
Be a Jimmy – Not a Donald.
He says I’m a curious instigator.
Teachers in my early report cards
complained I didn’t pay attention
and defied authority.
English boarding school, eighth grade—
two other girls and I snuck out
to watch Top of the Pops,
to visit a dismissed teacher,
to climb the Folkestone cliffs,
and to take the train
to a nearby boy’s boarding school.
Before Christmas,
we drew elves having intercourse.
The tall art teacher with dyed jet-black hair
and trademark purple shirt sent us to spend
the day with six-year-olds.
We crammed our bottoms into tiny desks.
In high school, I circulated a petition
to wear slacks to school.
The principal illustrated my misdeed
by turning his sport coat inside out—
and gave me detention.
When I was caught
wearing culottes to school,
my mother unwittingly
brought me another pair of culottes to wear,
and refused to let me return home for a skirt.
After I attended a protest
against the Vietnam War,
I gave a few friends protest flyers,
one of them pinned it to the bulletin board.
I was suspended for three days. Soon thereafter,
I dropped out and went to San Francisco
to join the counterculture movement.
Lucy Sage’s poems have been published in Underwood Press, The Closed Eye Open, Writing in a Woman’s Voice, and Quail Bell, among others. Her chapbook, I Am From the 20th Century, is projected to be published by Kelsay Books in February of 2027. She currently lives in Harrisburg, PA.
