Yes, Offred, It Is As You Said


Yes, Offred, It Is As You Said



Old men put on their jackets and ties, climb into limos, 
walk right past the line of red robed, white wimpled women 
to gather in the sacred hall of microphones and cameras.

Lights up for opening speeches, each Senator positions 
his better side. The party’s best writers have scripted 
scene one to highlight democratic character and conflict.

Old men dismiss as hysteria the shouted protests of women 
who have silently waited their moment to stand, unfurl 
a poster, call out corruption before being dragged off.

The crowd quiets when Minnesota’s blue-suited Senator Amy 
takes the microphone. Somehow she has worked out a way 
to be allowable, a smiling likable woman permitted to speak,

unlike Kamala, in a brown suit and severe face, who causes 
consternation even when she tells her up-from-the-ghetto story. 
Her angry edge and first-rate brain are all too plain: danger.

Our TV host assures us that any candidate for the high court 
will promise to be an honest umpire calling balls and strikes. 
You’re watching Hardball! he cries, cuts to commercial.

All day the speeches, the futile images of resistance, and
our unctuous Will-Be-Justice Kavanaugh, smiling but serious, 

endures the display, knowing his silent black robe is now secure.



                                                                        —Sef, 9/5/2018

Comments