Bella

•

for Bella Abzug

Bella
with her megaphone voice,
threatening war
if there was not peace,
shouting a president
into banning above
ground bomb tests ,
a Medusa of the vocal cords,
a Minerva of pacifism,
a postmodern Cassandra
cobbled together from an immigrant stew
and a New York mouth,
she stood before Senator Jake Javitts
surrounded by cohorts of Amazons ,
in her bright red,
lacquered straw hat,
the light shards reflecting off it
dazzled straight into the eyes
of her antagonist
as he unable to return the lightning
of hers,
ducked his head to scrape gunk
off his shoes,
Shame, she yelled,
Think of all the children you are killing.
Outside, a policeman on horseback asked,
Why don't you women go home
take care of your kids,
make dinner for the husband?
Once lying on a bed at the Chelsea hotel
I heard her voice over the strident traffic,
shrieking, No More War!
loud enough for the pledge
to go echoing down 23rd St,
cross the Hudson
and settle into the stones
of the Palisades
on the Jersey side.