Invisible Poem by M.L. Emmett

Half a century and more
living as a woman
in the Western democratic world

I wear no burkah
no hijab
yet, I am invisible

unless I choose
the age illusions -

chemical poisons to dye my hair
botoxin bubbles under my skin
collagen to puff my lips
implanted silicone

or starvation,
to look ‘years younger'
thin and wrinkle free -

to hold some
objective existence
in this man's world.