Annie Oakley's Skirt

famous woman
crack shot steals
negro's pants to secure
cocaine what a crock it was
a different kind of competition
why hell they said she did hand-springs
in her skirt and stored bullets in her crotch
trimlines and headlines

the negro's pants
were still on him and
annie oakley's nose was
clean and buffalo bill cody
said of his wild west show "the
show must go on" and the firebrand
"refutes looking to a quieter existence"
quote in william randolph hearst's chicago
newspaper controlling the media chain

stolen trousers
take but an affair's
controversy when they're
off of the lesbian and a half
who wore them and purging the character
is riotously contradictory and now they say
annie oakley is really a burlesque performer
named maude fontenella yes indeed someone
will pay for this let the firebrand why not

vindication
digging up its
dirt pass the whiskey crock
they accuse her of seeking publicity
may we all be there next time when the
crotch lickers give the newspapers a story
they'll be singing annie oakley's praises bested
gallantly defending a woman's honor oh how good it
is to be cut from the same cloth up annie oakley's skirt

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, Celebrity firebrand lesbian novelist