Bound for Glory by Laurel Brett

Bound for Glory

When Bob Dylan wrote
an early song

for Woody Guthrie
he immortalized

a freedom spirit
he knew would be leaving

soon. But our Gloria
seemed as if she’d be

with us forever. Cool,
passionate, incisive,

always explaining.
She wore a bunny suit

for an exposé on Playboy.
In Ms. magazine

she gave us voice, a new title
so we weren’t defined

by our status
vis à vis men,

her love, her steadfastness
eternal. When I was a teen

she proved
that tired canard

a lie: feminists are not feminists
because we’re ugly —

we are feminists because we dream
of being fully human.

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Laurel Brett is a poet, novelist, and essayist. Her novel, The Schrönger Girl, (Akashic Books) received favorable reviews, including one from the New York Times. Her essays have been published in many venues, including The Nassau Review where it was awarded the best essay prize and nominated for the Best American Essays series. Her poems have been published in Second Coming, The Ekphrastic Review, the Mid-Atlantic Review, The Westchester Review, and other venues. This year brought a Pushcart Prize nomination. Her first poetry collection, Penelope in the Car, will appear this fall of 2026 from Indolent Books.

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