Gauchos
Growing up in the Gloria Steinem-women’s-lib
gauchos-wearing-bra-burning-70s, I assumed
there would be more female firefighters by now.
I assumed there would be more female plumbers.
Men would of course be doing half of all
housework and childrearing. We’d be on our fourth,
maybe fifth female president, I assumed.
You know what they say about that word,
assume. When you assume, history makes an ass
out of you and me and all that we dream.
Nine percent of firefighters are women, zero percent
of US presidents. The fourteen percent of the US police
that is female uses less force, is named in fewer
citizen complaints. The number of male teachers
is down, the number of female ranchers is up.
Will the future wear pants or skirts? Why not
a country that offers freedom of movement
while also tailoring the expense of opportunity
to fit every body? The third female president
of the country of my assumptions wore gauchos
to her second inauguration. They were warm
and easy to work in, she said, riding her horse
all the way down Pennsylvania Avenue.
gauchos-wearing-bra-burning-70s, I assumed
there would be more female firefighters by now.
I assumed there would be more female plumbers.
Men would of course be doing half of all
housework and childrearing. We’d be on our fourth,
maybe fifth female president, I assumed.
You know what they say about that word,
assume. When you assume, history makes an ass
out of you and me and all that we dream.
Nine percent of firefighters are women, zero percent
of US presidents. The fourteen percent of the US police
that is female uses less force, is named in fewer
citizen complaints. The number of male teachers
is down, the number of female ranchers is up.
Will the future wear pants or skirts? Why not
a country that offers freedom of movement
while also tailoring the expense of opportunity
to fit every body? The third female president
of the country of my assumptions wore gauchos
to her second inauguration. They were warm
and easy to work in, she said, riding her horse
all the way down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Fall 2026
Hilary King is a poet now living in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Salamander, Painted Bride Quarterly, The Louisville Review, and other publications. She was the 2023 winner of the Rose Warner Prize from Freshwater Review and the second place winner of the 2025 Common Ground Review Annual Poetry Prize. She serves as an editor for DMQ Review, and her book of poems Stitched on Me was published by Riot in Your Throat Press in 2024.
Art: L. I. Henley
“Scorpio Girl: After Rebecca Hart Olander's Singing from the Deep End,” 2026
Colored pencil, acrylic, notebook paper, found The Jesus and Mary Chain album art
“Scorpio Girl: After Rebecca Hart Olander's Singing from the Deep End,” 2026
Colored pencil, acrylic, notebook paper, found The Jesus and Mary Chain album art