the old woman on TV was
surrounded by others just like her,
she bent into the television camera,
so close you could hear the blood creep
through the veins in her cheeks –
she said she’d make no trouble,
was a good woman behind her wilting veils —
and was willing to make sacrifices –
well hadn’t she done that already?
the woman on TV
was then hauled back by robed hands
and another face took her place,
and another, then another —
it reminded me of a slave market,
vassals in chains showing off their wares —
there were no takers —
some even tried to return the ones they had already.
