Steven Minchin’s most recent poem to appear here was “Out Shaking” (January 2020).
Contorted Sister Detector
By Steven Minchin
refusing to tell you why they’re there
they sway and twist
if contorted the right way
they themselves could have
spelled out DSS in flesh and fabric
a line of nuns a hundred long
each setting off the metal detector
as they float through
alarms and glares bloat their aura
no habit flutters under glares
and nods and forward movement
moves rivers of pious feet
moving alarm’s away
servants used to brushing the floor with their flesh
and handing their sole belongings
to the only men in the room
in higher uniform in various fazes of alarm
in the end undetected
one after one they pass on