11/11/15

Two burka clad women
side-by-side in a ricksha,
one cradles a sleeping baby
as they ride toward you, through
the teeming streets of Old Delhi.

Two nights home:
a woman draped in black
face down in a box of stale cereal.
What is she doing in your dream?

Where does she come from—
those women in Old Delhi?
From news of the woman caught
in a shoot out with French police?
He’s not my boyfriend, she shouts
before detonating her belt.

Unlikely the shadow woman
comes from your small town.
This time of year, Thanksgiving
and Christmas decorations appear.

Is she a stand in for women
walking down the streets
of Hyderabad, draped in black,
who follow your bared face
with their dark eyes.