Ablutions

Emmeline Pankhurst
in my bathroom
watches
me as I wash

She makes no judgements,
does not study me,
she merely observes my essence as a flow

With every movement
she holds her gaze
without
shame

I am
without shame
shamelessly
lathered up in froth excesses

while Emmeline Pankhurt
reflects
upon reflection shames,
on her silhouetted
omnipresence.

For every nipple and naughty part,
for every rude sexy hot hot hot
feminine
movement-
She stands as a statement,
a slogan a fair fair fair,
equal partner
respectful-

Shadow of hair mass
piled up
on top of her frame//
in direct juxtaposition
to my limp dripping black strangles of
fallout survivor hair.

Emmeline has little regard for her own body.
Concerned
with matters of urgency,
relevance,
and outrage,
she keeps her head jauntily at an angle
while thinking clouds of shower steam
fill the room with musty body wash.
I preen and primp
imitating adverts marketed wrong
to the wrong demographic.

I hide and seek with her figure.
She hides and seeks mine.

I stare at her
where her eyes should be
I hold her gaze

I, without a name