To Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin by Kaitlyn Bancroft

 

To Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin

by Kaitlyn Bancroft

Mary, he doesn’t love you
Trust me, I know his type —
The Greek gods-blessed jawline, the truth-or-dare smirk, the passion-mad eyes you think see you
The lightning bolt of lust to your old oak tree
If he loves you at all,
It’s as fire loves fuel

Mary, he doesn’t need you
Did you know, that when his first wife drowns herself
(Two years after you run away with him),
She’ll be pregnant with his child?
He says you’re his Elizabeth
But he’ll call you Justine if it suits him
And tie the hangman’s noose himself

Mary, you’ve married a monster
Made of unequal parts freshly-dead arrogance and rotting pride
Stitched together with an ego only a man playing God could possess
And you, his faithful Igor (never his equal),
Will name him Victor Frankenstein

Mary, your Love is a robber
He’s digging around in your grave
Did you know, when he writes a preface to your masterpiece
(In your voice),
He’ll refer to his own work as “far more acceptable to the public than anything I (meaning you) could hope to produce”?
As if he’s threatened by the secrets
That Nature told you and not him

Mary, you don’t need him
He’d curse the stars to steal your fame
Did you know that long, long after he’s gone,
It is your voice the literary masses will toil over
Like mad scientists desperately searching for the secret of life?
Your name synonymous with “The discovery of fire”
With “The fall of Icarus”
With “The only monsters in the world are those we create ourselves”

And Mary, you’ve created a monster
Racing across the Arctic of time
Over and over, beating Victor Frankenstein
Over and over, strangling the life from his inferior throat
Over and over, revelling in its damnation
And in you who brought it to life

Kaitlyn Bancroft is a faith and culture reporter with The Salt Lake Tribune. Previously, she’s written for The Spectrum & Daily News (part of the USA TODAY NETWORK), The Denver Post, Deseret News, and The Davis Clipper. She’s a Utah native and a 2019 graduate of Brigham Young University’s journalism program. Follow her work on Twitter @katbancroft.