Katherine Lieban

ISAIAH 3.16

The Lord said:
“Because the daughters of Zion
Are so vain
And walk with heads thrown back,
With roving eyes,
And with mincing gait,
Making a tinkling with their feet”-
My Lord will bare the pates
Of the daughters of Zion,
The Lord will uncover their heads.

And then-
Instead of perfume, there shall be rot;




KATHERINE 3.16

Thus said the Lord –

What do you see?
Our daughters
Lie with heads thrown back,
With roving eyes
And open legs
Making a tinkling with jeweled wrists and ankles.

For this our mothers marched and bled?
Were beaten
Died on butcher’s tables
Unwanted seed bringing premature death.

Now our daughters
Fully liberated
Emancipated
Choose to prostrate themselves
As objects
on the altar of consumer desire.

Starved
Listless
With dead eyes
They are willing partners
A la moda
In vogue
Heights of sophistication?
O depths of depravity!
False goddesses do you seek, do you emulate
Can you not see the true face?



You are dead to me, O daughter.
Complicit in your own annihilation
Supine
Passive
Let them fondle you
Between the glossy sheets
Of this fashion magazine
Your plastic mouth has no breath
No ruach,
You are mere flesh, ready to rot.
Let the crows gather, and devour you.