a barker at market

marketing parkas

told me to park it

beneath his marquee…

Remarking my burqa

was yesterday’s jerkin

and hurtin’ for certain

the way I’m perceived…

Shaking out tunic

in shaking down movement

he barked that most sheiks

are taken with frayed

–fringes and edges

as long as alleged

unraveling hems

are finest of suede…

Then trading my jacket

in bartering racket

before I could counter

my coat was replaced,

by fast talking honcho

hawking pseudo-suede ponchos

to passing by pawns

showing poor fashion taste.

©Karen Robiscoe