I.

She has emerged from the bamboo forest
with a white, fleshy-petalled flower

and her gun.
Save the country,

save the youth
She is supposed to say

because she is young and solid looking.
She looks out at her admirers

and critics, distracting them with her stare,
the clever pattern in her headscarf,

that poorly foreshortened thumb
and dark pink fist.

She is flat and smooth.
Foreigners smile at her,

wanting to look good.