I roll my eyes
in mock accord
at a woman who is

herself a tad theatrical
about a shop employee
placing my items in plastic

I want to mutter
you tree-hugger you
bunny-lover you hippy
flower-power child

but I bite my opinions
as she is pale of face
and of hair-shade and
might think I am profiling
like our official forms do

(regardless that we are
all the same on the inside
despite our looks says
Sindiwe Magona’s
Skin we are in)

I roll my eyes
almost throw up
my knobbly hands
into our polluted sky

it is after all the start
of our ritual campaign
against violence against
women and children

I roll my eyes
musing the food chain
is it dolphins first
then the pangolin
with pandas close behind

for the moment
politicians and the like
say women and children first

I roll my eyes

Might you