Cover Up
Walking through a tourist trap
on a sidewalk next to
every type of shop you can imagine
trying to separate you from your money:
head, lingerie, vintage, book, knitting
I pass a man standing in front of a table of crystals
and a rack of tye-dyed dresses and next to
a silk-cloth-lined wicker basket of
clear glass jars, with white labels on the outside
or white cream on the inside.
I would not have noticed all this unless,
as I walked by he asked me,
ma’am – do you want to try this cream to
cover the dark circles under your eyes?
Until that very moment I did not even know
I had dark circles under my eyes
And I thought, after I said
no, thank you
Isn’t that like asking someone if they want
to turn off the TV if they
do not like the news?
As if that would make the horror disappear.
Just wipe on this cream and forget your
exhaustion, or iron deficiency or dehydration?
A Picture and a Poem 