Her Fortune

hospital opened
in 1875, first woman
patient admitted, a pregnant
whore, meanwhile saloon clientele
lined up to feast their eyes on the china
woman, tattered clothes they wore, salmonbery
slobs and drunken miners rich, they swore,

folks who put
that yarn together
got their facts messed
up, she wasn't a poker bride,
she wasn't chinese, she wasn't
rescued and became a wife in poker
winnings, legend lied, her disciples claimed
she was a madam instead, operating as a champion
for all women sabotaged again the white washed row
of cottages the home of more expensive strumpets, the
cheaper women in the cribs below and farther down the
chinese women at the bottom of the slope,

wells fargo delivered
packages from the most
expensive furriers, her female
admirer delivered her white prancing
horses, enraged the virtuous females
of the social set, caused some divorces,
righteous ladies of the upper crust, owner
of the keno house noted "the wages of sin
are a damned sight better than the wages of
virtue."

ashes to ashes,
dust to dust, her alias
clouded all knowledge of
her heirs, she left her fortune
to the daughter of the woman
who simply gave of her heart.

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist