Bandit Queen
written by: Mark Tulin
@Crow_writer
She sits in the coffee shop
talking to herself,
arguing about things
no one understands.
Past conflicts
have never been resolved
but linger in her head.
She drinks from an old coffee cup
tangled in superstition.
She sees her father
at the bottom, her mother
the cream at the top.
She thinks about the children
she once had.
The ones that came from her womb
while standing up.
Many see the woman as an outlaw,
a Ma Barker, a bandit queen
about to grab a gun,
start a fistfight,
pull the fire alarm.
Far from dangerous.
A long way from her home in North Carolina,
she knows she’s a desperado;
used to it by now.
She leaves with her old coffee cup;
unties her imaginary horse,
and rides.
Mark Tulin is a retired therapist from California. Mark's books include Magical Yogis, Awkward Grace, The Asthmatic Kid and Other Stories, Junkyard Souls, Rain on Cabrillo, and Uncommon Love Poems. He's featured in Cafe Lit Magazine, Still Point Journal, The Opiate, The Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Amethyst Review, Vita Brevis Press, White Enso, WryTimes, and Red Wolf Editions. He is a Pushcart nominee and a Best of Drabble.
Latest posts by Mark Tulin (see all)
- Not All Poems Write Themselves - August 23, 2025
- Like Kudzu Vines - May 22, 2025
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