You come out victorious today
— heroic. Go on,
resolutely unusual.
Resist control.
Fight on, back to the
level-headed provocation.
Emerge finer.
Impose indulgence and licence.
Abnormal you, supreme.
Precious life,
accept love.

Source Text: A quiz from a women’s magazine dating from the Second World War.

Cathy Bryant worked as a life model, civil servant and childminder before becoming a professional writer. She has won fourteen literary awards, including the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Prize, and her work has appeared in over 100 publications including The London Magazine, The Huffington Post and The Rialto. She co-edited Best of Manchester Poets vols. 1-3, and Cathy’s latest collection, ‘Look at All the Women’, was published by Mother’s Milk Books in 2014. See more at www.cathybryant.co.uk, and see Cathy’s monthly listings for financially-challenged writers at www.compsandcalls.com