Women in Photographs

Forget the fashion shoots,
these are the images you'll remember:

1969: Jan Rose Kasmir, inches from the barrel of a National Guard gun,
seventeen and protesting the Vietmanese War,
holding out chrysanthemums in the name of peace.

1972: Kim Phuc, The Napalm Girl,
barely nine, fleeing bombardment,
her features distorted by pain as she hurls herself
along a dirt road, oblivious of soldiers or cameramen.

2018: Iesha Evans, the epicentre of calm
as Baton Rouge officers charge her down, gather her up,
her expression resolute, determined,
only her silver dress fluttering above her slippers.

2018: Unknown, Paris. Everywoman, everymother,
nose to shield, staring down the riot police,
her gaze at once defiant and disappointed,
looking deep into the eyes of some mother's son,
wondering how he came to this moment.