Feminist Fashion Police Citizen’s Arrest

Feminist Fashion Police Citizen’s Arrest

as the long escalator plunges down
through the glittery shopping-obsessed
Oil State airport/mall
I can’t help but read
the trim young woman’s back
in front of me over and over
spelled out in a block
of black and white sequins:
THINK LESS

trapped together for this moment
the stages of grief flash by
while both our hearts keep sinking lower

1. DENIAL
   maybe she doesn’t speak English
   sees the text the way I see a Chinese tattoo
   or the Arabic all around now
   no more than an interesting pattern
   of swoops and stops
   utterly meaningless
   maybe she’s no idea
   what she’s broadcasting
2. ANGER
   you are undermining everything
   everyone’s done
   dimming the future for everyone
   idiot!
3. BARGAINING
   maybe they’re mermaid sequins
   stroke her back
   and maybe the words transform, inspire
   say love more
   do more
   feel more
   maybe I’d agree
4. DEPRESSION
   it’s not just her to blame
   it’s the designer
   the manufacturer
   the marketing team
   the model who wore it
   the store owner who sold it
   her parents
   her friends
   the men it was meant for
   WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?
   oh, yeah. right. they weren’t.
5. ACCEPTANCE
   o young woman
   on the DXB escalator
   who I am so tempted to think less of
   who I literally look down on
   you are yet another manifestation
   of divine intervention
   the universe exercising its will
   calling me to stay vigilant
   reminding me
   how much could still be lost
   thank you for putting your provocative self
   in my path
   igniting my thinking
   in the midst of an otherwise mindless moment
   clutching the handrail
   descending into materialism’s hell