A Quaker rebel,

A fighter with a pen.

Susan B. Anthony,

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Both on an 1867 journey

through the troubled state of Kansas

Black versus female suffrage

A bloodless battle

for two odd warriors.

Susan the stern,

Elizabeth the mild.

Susan the slender,

Elizabeth the stout.

But each with an unquenchable fire

to devastate the legislature

“Failure is impossible” and

“Women are slaves, men knaves”

Two women, working together

traveling to unwelcome towns,

taking a George Francie Train

with them to hopeful victory,

only to be devastated by the outcome.

— Tom Mach lives in Lawrence.