THE COAL OF IRON UPON THE ICE( for Anne B)

Nuns  shepherd
their flock

of prepubescents
(high on hormones)

that deadly cocktail
of adolescence

into  a school
production of the Shakespearean

play
they are

studying.

Now, Coriolanus
ain’t

ROMEO AND JULIET  or
HAMLET even

but somehow
it holds

their riveted
attention.

The nuns look pleased
with themselves &

their girls

not realising
their young ladies

are struck
dumb

not by the blankness
of the verse but

that they are seeing
so

many
men

in such short
skirts

strong iron-cast legs
that run

all the way up to their
bums.

“Yum! ”
gloat the girls

"Yum yum
...YUM!"

*

Where he should find you lions, finds you hares;
Where foxes, geese: you are no surer, no,
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,
Or hailstone in the sun.

CORIOLANUS  ACT 1 SCENE I  LINE 167 - 170