“Modesty” is what you say
When you think
A woman shouldn’t be seen, at all,
Shouldn’t be there.
I can’t help but wonder why.
Who does she remind you of?
Who did you
So want to silence?
The woman who broke your heart,
Or the one who wouldn’t call?
Who am I kidding —
Maybe you’re just afraid
Of the competition.
But really, where do you get off, saying,
“Take her away.
I don’t like the way she
Makes me feel.
She reminds me of the things that I don’t have
And the people who didn’t want me.
Surely the Evil of the World lurks in her slim shoulders.”
How is it that logic impermissible in a preschool
Is the rule of law in congress?
Is this what your Jesus meant when he said,
“Cut out your eye if it offend thee” —
That the evil of the world was in women’s shoulders?
An imaginative interpretation. I have another:
Control yourself, and you will not need
To control others. After all, I could easily say,
“I don’t like the way you
Make me feel. You remind me
Of the respect I’m not yet given,
And of the responsibility
Men have not yet taken.
Surely the Evil of the World lurks in your eyes.
See to them, Sir; be your soul’s own custodian
— captain, if you like —
After all, wasn’t the role of government,
Of rights and of commandments,
To prevent men from imposing
Their evil on the world?”
But you don’t see me dragging congressmen
out by their collars, do you? Well —
At least not until
The next election.

Too much of you
Is showing
Your hair, your arms
Your heart.
Cover them up,
And your mouth, too,
While you’re at it —
I’d hate to hear a voice
Other than my own.
After all, modesty
Is only for women.