Lilith or Eve: in haiku

You laugh, and you conquer.

I was left to the
lions. Banishing “soft,” they
taught me survival.

                                                                              Shut your mouth, shut your
                                                                                  knees; close your lips, cross your legs,
                                                                              they demanded. Once.

                                               Lilith or Eve: how
                                               did I fall? Pushed by knowledge
                                               or equality?

              When they think you weak,
              they don’t see you coming. You
              laugh, and you conquer.

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Maia Brown-Jackson believes in the altruism of strangers, the power of direct action, and the Oxford comma. Her work has taken her everywhere from art galleries and museums to a nonproliferation nonprofit to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. In her spare time, she volunteers with the Yazidi NGO, the Yuva Organization for Children’s Rights. Also, she writes.