Queues
Having lost her place in the bread queue, she found
herself hurried along
by a prod from a sharp knee, in the small of her back
and in yet another long line,
just waiting to be tattooed, disinfected and shorn ..
It wouldn’t have done any good to grumble, to resist
or to moan, there were piles
of such moaners, stacked high either side of the road
and so little time, not even enough
to kiss goodbye to her folks, her children or friends ..
Everyone there was both starving and cold, yet even
when the ovens were full,
they still kept on feeding those fires of theirs, until
tears filled the dorms and the smoke
did rise and the whole of the sky turned waxy and black ..