I Have This to Say About That

Don't those pollsters know
that married women
lie in the presence
of their husbands?

They lie mostly about
money and politics.
And sex. That, too.
They sneak shopping bags
in the back door.

If their husbands notice
something new,
they say, "What?
This ole thing?"
And when they pull

that poll booth curtain
closed, who's to know?
And white women, well,
they'll vote for a woman
or a black man

without flinching. And smile
while they do it. Just like   
they smile when asked
"Was it good for you, too,
honey?" "Why, yes,"

they say. "Yes."

 

[This poem has been published at New Verse News.]

UPDATED 15 JAN: I've posted a response to comments on this poem here:  Politics & Poetics