with blank faces
questions laced with
ridicule. What do you
do? The answer will

not merit a smile
or a nod. For there is
no applaud for a woman
with tongue and pen

to fill the craving of mercenary
men. The lure of a cornflower sky
and a pair of doves flying by or
a canopy of emerald leaves

dancing in a summer's breeze
doesn't cash in. Or the splash of
a raindrop fallen on my parasol or
the loud "gaaa" of the bluejay's call.