The Charismatic Leader (poem)

The Charismatic Leader

She enters, and her face brings disharmony

The charismatic leader’s voice dies

It was his own habit

to arrive in a whirlybird

She, like her adversary, speaks in noise

She wears shoes that stub against the tiles

His eyes lower to the clanking handle

And soap floats glinting on the water

The pace is quick as caffeine in the blood

They wear leather soles that bang like jackboots

They flap back their suitcoats and pose

One hand on hip, one back of the head

Her eyes staring at her squeezing hands

A mist of sour mildew from the sponge

A stream, a drip, and then

Weirdly she has snared this audience

Heads jerk to the side and a sniggering laugh

escapes the lowest acolyte

She tips the bucket, crouching, darts

Travestied, he feels only panic

They cannot run to chase her

The yellow sign snaps closed and falls

Beast

Queen’s Rook

(2015, Stephanie Foster)