French Revolution

My brother says

"I don't pay attention to politics"

and also

"politics don't concern me"

and I smile at him

awkwardly,

the way Marie Antoinette did

while hemming her royal dress

and building a boat

in high Austrian hair.

Politics didn't concern her

until it showed up

at her French door

in the form of an angry mob

of hungry women,

desperate for change,

desperate enough to behead

a king and queen.

Politics are never concerning,

until a nation decides

to murder itself

in the name of revolution.