Queues

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 ..