Poem: "A Stronger Woman"
Dec. 28th, 2025 05:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThis poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from fuzzyred, see_also_friend, and wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Put me down!" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Fortressa thread in the Polychrome Heroics series.
"A Stronger Woman"
[August 2015]
Fortressa was displeased
with Conkling College.
She had gotten a tip
from a young woman
who worked there, earlier
in the summer when they
were considering who
to make the new Dean.
Fortressa had looked into
the candidates and promptly
formed a strong distaste for
Wilbur Franklin, who was
prone to harass women.
She had assembled
a comprehensive file
on that and spread it
around the campus.
Of course, that riled up
the academics there.
They had insisted on
having it all deleted,
although they didn't
know who started it.
So Fortressa deleted
the files, and since they
were mixed in with
other files about him,
she deleted those too,
just to make sure that
she got everything.
They had howled
even more over that.
Regrettably, they chose
Franklin as Dean anyhow.
The man might be a creep,
but he was disturbingly good
with academic politicking.
Fortressa had tried, and
people had ignored her,
so fuck it, she had plenty
of other things to go do.
That worked for a while,
but then she got more tips
about Franklin pestering
the girls in the office.
Well, she had warned
everyone that he was
a creep who could never
keep his hands to himself;
what had they expected?
Grumbling, Fortressa
climbed into her battlesuit
and went back to the college.
Beside the administrative building
stood a cluster of hideous statues,
that modern abstract crap that
didn't really look like anything
but made a great hiding place.
While Fortressa waited, she
spliced into the security system.
She got samples of Franklin making
lewd comments to the secretaries,
leaning over them, and groping them.
Helpfully she forwarded copies to
the local police station with timestamps
so they could easily find those in the system
to get something admissible in court.
Eventually Franklin left his office and
came out the front of the building.
Fortressa stepped out from behind
the wretched statues and picked him up.
The tall man dangled high over the steps,
kicking and squalling in her metal hand.
"You've been a real dick," Fortressa said.
"Seriously, you need to quit harassing
women and act like a decent human being,
because this shit will get you in trouble."
"Put me down!" Franklin bellowed.
That order was just too good
a chance for Fortressa to resist.
Obligingly she opened her hand,
and Franklin plummeted to the steps.
He lay in a tangled heap, yelling --
he had probably broken something
in the fall, hopefully his pelvis, though
in this case, hands would be good too.
"Hey, I may be a supervillain, but
at least I stop touching people when
they ask," Fortressa pointed out.
"I'll sue you!" he blustered.
"You could try," said Fortressa,
"but you know what I like about
this pissant little town? It has
a female chief of police and
a female District Attorney."
That shut him right up,
at least temporarily.
Fortressa wasn't
surprised that he
hadn't known that.
Franklin's only interest
in women seemed to be
getting into their skirts.
Fortressa headed home,
somewhat satisfied with
her solution, but wishing
she did not have to keep
bouncing perverts off
the pavement so they'd
stop bothering women.
Sliding out of her battlesuit,
Fortressa sighed. "Remind me
why I even do this," she muttered.
"A strong woman stands up for herself,"
said Socket. "A stronger woman
stands up for everyone else."
* * *
Notes:
Wilbur Franklin -- He has ruddy skin, gray eyes, and short ash-brown hair that is receding. He is tall and slim. His heritage is American. He speaks English. He is 45 years old in 2015. Wilbur networks his way to become Dean of Conkling College in Malone, New York. His penchant for sexual harassment soon gets him in trouble, though.
Qualities: Good (+2) Academic Politicking, Good (+2) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, Good (+2) Organized, Good (+2) Tall, Good (+2) Wealth
Poor (-2) Creep
* * *
"A strong woman stands up for herself. A stronger woman stands up for everyone else."
-- Gecko and Fly
Conkling College is a small community college in Malone, New York that serves Franklin County and other parts of the North Country.
A district attorney is the chief prosecutor representing a U.S. state in a local government area, typically a county or a group of counties.
fuzzyred, see_also_friend, and wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Put me down!" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by a pool with fuzzyred. It belongs to the Fortressa thread in the Polychrome Heroics series."A Stronger Woman"
[August 2015]
Fortressa was displeased
with Conkling College.
She had gotten a tip
from a young woman
who worked there, earlier
in the summer when they
were considering who
to make the new Dean.
Fortressa had looked into
the candidates and promptly
formed a strong distaste for
Wilbur Franklin, who was
prone to harass women.
She had assembled
a comprehensive file
on that and spread it
around the campus.
Of course, that riled up
the academics there.
They had insisted on
having it all deleted,
although they didn't
know who started it.
So Fortressa deleted
the files, and since they
were mixed in with
other files about him,
she deleted those too,
just to make sure that
she got everything.
They had howled
even more over that.
Regrettably, they chose
Franklin as Dean anyhow.
The man might be a creep,
but he was disturbingly good
with academic politicking.
Fortressa had tried, and
people had ignored her,
so fuck it, she had plenty
of other things to go do.
That worked for a while,
but then she got more tips
about Franklin pestering
the girls in the office.
Well, she had warned
everyone that he was
a creep who could never
keep his hands to himself;
what had they expected?
Grumbling, Fortressa
climbed into her battlesuit
and went back to the college.
Beside the administrative building
stood a cluster of hideous statues,
that modern abstract crap that
didn't really look like anything
but made a great hiding place.
While Fortressa waited, she
spliced into the security system.
She got samples of Franklin making
lewd comments to the secretaries,
leaning over them, and groping them.
Helpfully she forwarded copies to
the local police station with timestamps
so they could easily find those in the system
to get something admissible in court.
Eventually Franklin left his office and
came out the front of the building.
Fortressa stepped out from behind
the wretched statues and picked him up.
The tall man dangled high over the steps,
kicking and squalling in her metal hand.
"You've been a real dick," Fortressa said.
"Seriously, you need to quit harassing
women and act like a decent human being,
because this shit will get you in trouble."
"Put me down!" Franklin bellowed.
That order was just too good
a chance for Fortressa to resist.
Obligingly she opened her hand,
and Franklin plummeted to the steps.
He lay in a tangled heap, yelling --
he had probably broken something
in the fall, hopefully his pelvis, though
in this case, hands would be good too.
"Hey, I may be a supervillain, but
at least I stop touching people when
they ask," Fortressa pointed out.
"I'll sue you!" he blustered.
"You could try," said Fortressa,
"but you know what I like about
this pissant little town? It has
a female chief of police and
a female District Attorney."
That shut him right up,
at least temporarily.
Fortressa wasn't
surprised that he
hadn't known that.
Franklin's only interest
in women seemed to be
getting into their skirts.
Fortressa headed home,
somewhat satisfied with
her solution, but wishing
she did not have to keep
bouncing perverts off
the pavement so they'd
stop bothering women.
Sliding out of her battlesuit,
Fortressa sighed. "Remind me
why I even do this," she muttered.
"A strong woman stands up for herself,"
said Socket. "A stronger woman
stands up for everyone else."
* * *
Notes:
Wilbur Franklin -- He has ruddy skin, gray eyes, and short ash-brown hair that is receding. He is tall and slim. His heritage is American. He speaks English. He is 45 years old in 2015. Wilbur networks his way to become Dean of Conkling College in Malone, New York. His penchant for sexual harassment soon gets him in trouble, though.
Qualities: Good (+2) Academic Politicking, Good (+2) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, Good (+2) Organized, Good (+2) Tall, Good (+2) Wealth
Poor (-2) Creep
* * *
"A strong woman stands up for herself. A stronger woman stands up for everyone else."
-- Gecko and Fly
Conkling College is a small community college in Malone, New York that serves Franklin County and other parts of the North Country.
A district attorney is the chief prosecutor representing a U.S. state in a local government area, typically a county or a group of counties.
