An outlaw, a swindling hero, I was also just a woman. Born with all the privilege a girl could have, I looked up at the evening sky for a shooting star when I was sixteen and fell in love with forever. My husband was both a drunk and a gambler. I left and went back to him several times. The day I went to The Chicago’s World Fair in 1893 I saw Buffalo Bill. From then on I wore short hair and pants. Sometimes I committed small crimes. Other times I worked as a cook and made a decent living. I ran out of money in 1899. I robbed a stagecoach in the desert of Arizona. I stole the passengers’ money and then gave each one back a dollar. I rode my horse towards a bright horizon, and not long after they took me to jail. For years I ran a parlor in prison. I entertained reporters and other fans. A real celebrity, I was every guard’s favorite. Eventually pardoned with a one-way ticket to Kansas City, I boarded a train that sped away towards the flatness of the Midwest.
Natalie Marino is a poet and practicing physician. Her work appears in Pleiades, Rust & Moth, Salt Hill, South Florida Poetry Journal and elsewhere. She is the author of the chapbook Under Memories of Stars (Finishing Line Press, 2023). She lives in California. You can find her online at nataliemarino.com or on Instagram @natalie_marino.
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