The Red Dress

                                               George Tooker

RUBY TUESDAY


THE RED DRESS


Androphobia.......fear of men,
Is etched across her face.
It makes life hard because, of course,
 They're half the human race!
This is a scary picture,
But I don't take it to  represent
A possible scenario
Filled with masculine ill-intent.
If we take it as possible fact
It's terrifying indeed;
There's hardly another woman in sight
In this, her hour of need.
Threats  are all around her,
And there is no escape;
What will it be, a simple theft
Or a more dreadful rape?
No, this isn't a 'snapshot' picture;
When I look at it  again
I'm pretty sure it represents
The sad state of her brain.
The man in brown is multiplied;
He's everywhere she goes.
Is he in her imagination,
Or someone she really knows?
If one suffers from androphobia
One must scream a silent scream.
All in all, this painting
Represents a terrible dream.
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NEWS FLASH


                                           Peter Lewis


SURRENDER!


After three years of protests
And dollars hard to count,
(Although our Council tells us
It's a very large amount),
The figs have come down in Laman Street
The dirty deed is done.
No more will those grand and massive trees
Shield us from the sun.
No more will they make a sheltering arch
As we walk to the Library.
Protests take place in other lands
Far across the sea,
But they involve the BIG things
Poverty, murder, hate;
Here we've been defending trees
And now it is too late.

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